


Far Too Young To Die

by TeenageMutantGingerNinja



Category: The Maze Runner (2014), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Character Death, Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Newmas - Freeform, Violence, Zombies, newtmas - Freeform, the zombies are called cranks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-02-23 01:29:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 99,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2529002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeenageMutantGingerNinja/pseuds/TeenageMutantGingerNinja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newt always wished that one day his life would change, but he never imagined it would change quite like this. With the dead rising and the living turning on each other, he just hopes that they'll all be able to make it out alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. He's been bitten

Waking up was always Newts favourite part of the day. Before he opened his eyes he liked to pretend that he was back at home in his bed, Thomas asleep beside him and the only thing he’d need to worry about was whether or not he had time to make Thomas some breakfast before they both went to work at the weekends. That was how his day used to start, and in his dreams it still did, but now his reality was very different.

Thomas was still there, an arm slung protectively around his waist; Newt could feel his warm breath on the back of his neck and was happy, not for the first time that he had Thomas there to help keep him grounded. Here like this he could almost forget about the dull ache in his leg, the hard ground they were laying on and even the fear which had been a constant in their lives in the last few months.

When the flare had hit no one was ready for it, but how could they have been? It spread fast, infecting the brain, turning you crazy, turning you against your own people. The government had tried to contain it, quarantine those who’d been infected but it didn’t last. They found their way out and attacked anything and anyone that got in their way. People who didn’t already have the virus were being infected by a bite, or even just a scratch from the ‘Cranks’, as the media had collectively named them.

Newt had been lucky, well as lucky as you could be in the circumstances. He was out on a camping trip when the whole thing started with Thomas and a few of their other friends Minho, Alby and Teresa, Thomas’ twin sister. This meant that they were away from the main towns and cities that were worst hit, they didn’t have to worry about getting away because they already were.

At first Newt had wanted to go back to the city to find his family, make sure they were alive and get them out, but the rest of the group had disagreed, saying that they needed to stay together, that it was no use trying to go back because they were probably dead already. He’d hated them for it, not talked to them for days, just shut them all out, even Thomas. Looking back on it now Newt knew that they were right, that it would have been a suicide mission.

He was grateful that Minho had been able to convince him to go on the trip now, because if not he was almost certain that they’d all be dead and if he couldn’t have his family around anymore, at least he still had his friends.

Not wanting to wake Thomas up, he tried to move away from him as carefully as possible and pulled the blanket they’d managed to find up over Thomas’ shoulders in an attempt to keep him warm. Winter had definitely started to set in now, there was frost on the ground when he stepped out of the tent and a cold breeze that sent a shiver down his spine as he walked out into the camp.

The camp wasn’t very big, they had four tents spread out in a circle with a camp fire in the middle, something that Newt was currently very thankful for as a wave of heat washed over him. The whole camp was surrounded by walls they’d built out of anything they could find, large branches that they found on the floor of the woods and smaller, lower hanging ones they’d pulled off tress themselves; there were also some parts made of a wire mesh they’d found on one of their scavenging runs. It wasn’t the strongest wall ever built, but it was the best they could do with what they had.

Up in one of the trees they’d built a watchtower, as Minho liked to call it. Really it was just a few pieces of wood going around the tree with a fence around the sides to that they could sit up high and watch out for any approaching Cranks. Teresa was sat up in the watchtower, leaning against the tree and when he looked up, she smiled down at him and waved, calling down to him.

“Hey Newt, I’ve got you something!” Newt watched as she reached into her bad and pulled out a black woollen hat and threw it down to him. He managed to catch it before it hit the ground and put it on, the warmth of it hitting him instantly.

“When did you get this?” He called back up to her.

“I picked it up on the run yesterday but you were already asleep by the time I got back.” She closed her bag back up, slung it over her shoulder and started to climb down the wooden steps that lead up to the watchtower. “Now you can quit complaining about your head being cold, you’re welcome.” Newt smiled as she came over and gave him a hug, patting her on the back before she left him to go and sit by the fire with Brenda, Jorge and Chuck.

Over the past few months they’d found a few other people out in the woods and offered them refuge at their camp. Most of them were nice enough, pulling their weight around camp and helping out where they could and in return they’d given them food, shelter and as much protection against the Cranks as they could.

They’d found Chuck alone in the woods, hiding up in a tree with Cranks scratching at the bottom, trying to climb up to get him. When they’d gotten rid of the Cranks and helped him down they’d asked him where his family was, why he was alone. All he said was ‘they’re gone, I don’t want to talk about it’ so they never asked. Brenda had been with her cousin, Jorge by the edge of the woods in a small camp they’d built for themselves. Alby had offered them a place at the camp and they took it, bringing with them the supplies they had which had been great help as they’d managed to grab a bag full of medication from the pharmacy in the city before they left. And then there was Gally.

He’d shown up three weeks after everything had started, alone, covered in mud and holding a gun to Alby’s head, shouting at them to prove they weren’t infected. There wasn’t much they could do other than to explain that they’d been out there the whole time and that no, none of them were infected. It had taken nearly an hour but they got him to calm down enough and convinced him to stay with them for the night because he looked like he was ready to pass out from exhaustion.

One night had turned into a week, then a month and now he’d been staying with them for nearly six months and Newt found it very hard to like him, let alone trust him. It wasn’t as if they could ask him to leave either, he’d been the one to build the watchtower and, along with Brenda and Jorge, most of the wall that was protecting them. He’d played his part, and for that they were grateful.

Gally shoved past Newt on his way to the watchtower, knocking him back a few steps.

“Alby wants to talk to you, don’t ask me what it’s about because I don’t know and I really don’t care.” Newt sighed as Gally climbed the ladder, he pulled his jacket tighter around himself and made his way over to the shelter where he assumed Alby was.

Alby and Minho were both stood looking at a map that had been stuck to the wall of the shelter, it showed all of the places in the city that they’d been to look for supplies, most of the buildings had been crossed off by now, either because they’d been completely emptied or they were too overrun with Cranks to even think about getting into them.

“Gally said you wanted to speak to me?” Alby turned and gestured for him to come over, whilst Minho pointed to an area of the map that they’d never ventured to before.

“Yeah, what’s your opinion on making this our next run? It’s a bit further out than we usually like to go but we’re starting to run out of choices.” The area Minho was referring too was right near the centre of the city, they’d never tried going that far in because they knew it’d be too risky, what with the centre being overrun with Cranks and all.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, do we really need to go that far in?”

“You know we do Newt, and besides, we’re starting to run out of your pain meds anyway.”

“I’m fine, I don’t need them anymore. If that’s the only reason you’re going in then don’t bother, it’s too bloody dangerous.” They both knew he was lying, ever since he’d broken his ankle on a run two months back he’d been in constant pain. They were pretty sure it hadn’t healed properly but there wasn’t much they could do about it except give him his pain medication and ban him from any future runs until they were sure he was up for it.

“Shut it shank, of course you need them. Besides, Thomas would kill me if we didn’t get them for you.”

“Who am I killing?” Newt turned round to see that Thomas had woken up and joined them in the shelter, still looking half asleep with his hair all over the place. Newt smiled as Thomas wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him back against his chest, helping to keep both of them warm against the cold air.

“Nobody if we can help it.” Alby spoke up “We were just asking Newt what he thought about the run, you’re still up for it?” Thomas nodded, confirming his agreement.

“Great, I’ll go get Teresa and Jorge then, we’ll leave as soon as you’re ready to go.” Minho took the map down from the wall and left the shelter to go and get the other runners, the three of them going over to the pile of supplies in the main tent to get out what they needed for the run. Alby left to go and join Brenda and Chuck by the fire, leaving Newt and Thomas alone. Newt turned in Thomas’ arms so that he was facing him, putting his hands on Thomas’ chest.

“I want to come with you.” Thomas sighed and looked away from him and took a step back, he opened his mouth to speak but Newt cut him off. “Look I know what you’re going to say and you’re wrong. I’m fine, I can still run, and I can still help.” Thomas looked back at him now with a pained expression on his face.

“Newt, I know you just want to help and that’s great, really. But you’re just not ready to come with us, I’m sorry.”

“But I-” Newt tried to speak his case but Thomas shook his head and spoke over him.

“Please just here me out?” Newt nodded and leaned back against the wall, waiting for Thomas to continue. “When you hurt yourself on that run, I thought I’d lost you. Those Cranks were so close and you couldn’t move and I was too far away to help, if it wasn’t for Minho you’d be dead right now.” Thomas took a step towards him and put his hand gently on the side of Newt’s face, rubbing his thumb slowly over his cheek. “If you come with us I’ll just be worrying about you the whole time and I can’t afford to do that, not with how far in we’re going today. Do you get that?”

He did. He really did, he knew how hard it was to watch Thomas and the others leave every day to go and search for supplies, wondering whether or not they were going to make it back alive. He reached up and took hold of the hand touching his face, bringing it down and tangling their fingers together.

“Okay, fine.” Thomas smiled, looking a lot calmer, hopeful.

“Really?”

“Yes Tommy, now go, before I change my mind.” Thomas leant in and placed a quick kiss on his forehead.

“Thank you, I promise I’ll be back before dark.” He squeezed Newts hand before letting go and leaving to go and join the others over by the doors, where they now each had a bag and their chosen weapon strapped to their waste. Minho passed Thomas his things and he put in his bag, putting his knife into the holster on his belt. He turned and waved to Newt and then the three of them pushed opened the two wooden doors and ran off into the woods towards the city.

* * *

 

Running was something that Thomas enjoyed, something that he was good at. It helped him to clear his head and to forget about the world around him just for a while, and that was something that was hard to come by now. Running through the woods was something they’d been doing for months now, they used to take the one car they had into the city but after it drew too much attention from the Cranks because of the noise, the decided that going on foot would be a safer option as it was much quieter.

The run to the city took around thirty minutes, when they arrived they slowed to a walk and stuck together as they walked down the empty roads. Most of the buildings they passed were empty, the windows smashed and doors broken down in peoples haste to get supplies on their way out of the city. The only things that were left in them now was dust and the occasional body that no one was brave enough to move out of sight.

When they’d made their first run to the city they’d been horrified with what they saw. Having been away from it all for so long, it had been their first real look at the destruction the virus had caused. There were wire fences surrounding the main area of the city in an attempt to keep the Cranks from getting out. They’d been thankful for that as it meant they could pick up some supplies easily as all of the Cranks were trapped behind the mesh. It had stayed this way for a month until they’d cleaned out the buildings outside the fences, their only option to go over the fence and into Crank territory.

Brenda had been coming with them up until that point but Jorge hadn’t wanted her to go past the fences, wanted to keep her safe so the group agreed that she should stay back at camp with Chuck and Gally where she’d be better protected. Brenda hadn’t been too happy about it, but agreed to it anyway. Thomas had tried to convince Newt to do the same but he was having none of it, refusing to go back if Thomas was still staying.

Now, five months later, the fences were still up but they were getting weaker, and Cranks were starting to get through.

As they walked down the street, they split into two groups to check through the windows of the buildings on either side of the street to double check they were empty. Thomas stayed with Teresa as usual, not wanting to keep his sister out of sight for too long, not after what happened to Newt.

After what felt like an hour, they made it to the road they needed to be on, only having to stop and hide from a group of Cranks once on the way there. The road seemed to be empty, so Minho took off his bag and searched through it until he got out the map, laying it out flat on the road for them all to see. Thomas and Teresa crouched down so that they had a better view whilst Jorge kept watch.

“This whole road hasn’t been touched by us so we don’t know if there are any Cranks trapped in the buildings so we need to stay together until we know for sure.” He circled the road on the map with his finger so they knew where he was talking about. “Now I don’t know about you shanks, but with this weather I’m starting to get really shucking cold and it’s only going to get worse. So any extra clothes you can find that’ll fit anyone in the group would be a blessing to us all.”

“Tom and I’ll head over to the Pharmacy just down there,” Teresa pointed to the pharmacy on the map and then pointed down the road towards it. “It’s not too far and from here it looks pretty much untouched, we should be able to find some meds for Newt and pick up anything else that might be useful.” Minho nodded his agreement and rolled up the map, the three of them standing back up as he put it back in his bag.

“Jorge and I’ll be in the convenience store across the road, so meet us there when you’ve done. Just remember, don’t use your gun unless you have to,” He said this specifically to Jorge and Teresa, as they were the only ones that carried guns with them, “we don’t want to draw too much attention to ourselves”.

The group split of into pairs and ran down the road to their respective stores, Thomas and Teresa stopped outside the pharmacy and stood on either side of the door. Thomas took out his knife, ready to attack if he needed too. Watching Teresa with a gun always worried him, he hated the fact that his sister was in a situation where she needed one. He often wanted to ask her not to come on the runs with them but he knew how stubborn she was and knew she wouldn’t listen to him anyway.

After taking the safety off, she pushed the door open and slowly moved inside. Thomas waited outside for her to give the signal that the room was clear. He watched through the door and when he saw her on the other side of the room she gestured for him to come in.

“Rooms clear, there’s not as much in here as we thought though.” When he went inside Thomas saw that she was right, the shop was pretty empty but still, anything they could get was better than nothing at all. After putting his knife back in its holster, he started looking through the aisle’s to find anything useful.

He found a few boxes of bandages by the back along with a pair of scissors, some medical tape and three bottles of pain medication. He smiled to himself, silently thanking whoever had been there before them for not taking them. He put them all into his bag and went over to the other side of the shop to see if Teresa had found anything they could use. When she heard him coming over she turned and hid what she’d found behind her back.

“You’re never going to guess what I found.”

“You’re right, I’m not a mind reader. What is it?” Teresa rolled her eyes.

“Since when did you get so boring? You have to guess! Come on, it’s fun.” Thomas sighed and put his bag back over his shoulders, holding onto the straps with both hands.

“Is it, perhaps, a kit for me to grow myself a better sister?” Teresa quickly reached over and punched Thomas in the arm.

“You’re such a dick, you know that?” Thomas laughed, rubbing his arm. He was about to ask what Teresa what she’d found when they heard a shout from across the road. They both turned towards the sound in shock. “Minho.” Was all she said before she bagged whatever it was she’d found and ran from the store to where Minho and Jorge were across the road. Thomas took out his knife and followed her.

When they entered the shop they could hear that the shouting coming from the back and the two of them took off running towards the sound. When they rounded the corner they could see that Minho was being cornered by a group of four Cranks. He’d managed to climb up onto one of the shelving units but the Cranks were reaching for his feet, clawing at the shelves to reach for him.

Thomas reacted immediately, running over to one of the Cranks and embedding his knife deep into its head. He pulled out the knife and the Crank dropped to the floor, unmoving. He hated this part, the killing. Because they’d been people once, it wasn’t their fault they got infected.

Soon Minho was back down on the ground, the whole thing had been a blur, but he knew he must have killed another one of them because he could feel the blood already drying on his face. He turned to look over at Teresa, who looked like she might throw up. She was carrying a bat she must have found as they ran over, which was covered in blood and something else Thomas didn’t even want to think about.

Minho was talking to him but he wasn’t really listening, still trying to get over what he’d just done. It was then that he realised that Jorge wasn’t with them. He took off running to the other side of the store, ignoring the other’s calling after him. When he turned the corner he stopped dead in his tracks.

Jorge was lying on the floor, blood pooling around his left shoulder. He stared at him for what felt like forever until he felt Teresa’s hand on his shoulder as she rushed past him and knelt on the floor by Jorge’s side. Minho spoke up from beside him.

“I tried to get them to move away from him, I thought I’d done it. That’s why I was making so much noise, to keep them away from him. He just sort of… froze.” Teresa started gently shaking him, trying to get him to wake up.

“Jorge.” No answer, he lay motionless on the ground. She shook him a bit harder. “Jorge wake up, please!” She leant over him when he didn’t and put her head against his chest, listening for a heartbeat. She seemed to relax slightly and looked over at the two of them. “He’s still breathing, but barley. We have to get him out of here.” Thomas looked over at Minho and he could see from his friends face that they were thinking the same thing. Jorge had been bitten, there wasn’t anything they could do to save him now.

“Teresa, he’s-” Teresa’s eyes snapped over to Minho and she glared at him, even as tears started to flow down her cheeks.

“Shut up. For once in your life just shut up. Please just help me, for Brenda. We need to take him back, she needs to be with him. They’re family, please?” She was right, they couldn’t just leave him here. Thomas new that if anything happened to him he’d want to be taken to his family, to Teresa, to Newt.

“She’s right, Min. We need to do this.” Thomas moved over to the shelves behind Teresa which held a small pile of bed sheets, obviously something that people didn’t need anymore. He knelt down next to Jorge and took the scissors out of his bag, cutting up the fabric and pressing it to the wound on Jorge’s shoulder, trying to soak up as much blood as possible.

When he was able to stop the bleeding Minho helped him to tie a large piece of the sheet over Jorge’s shoulder and around his chest and back, repeating this a few times until it was thicker, enough to stop the blood from seeping through. Teresa was stood behind them, wiping at her eyes and putting the rest of the bed sheet into her bag in case they needed more of it later.

“We should probably go, it’s getting dark and it’s a long walk back.” Thomas looked up to Minho and nodded, he hooked one of his arms under Jorge’s legs, the other under his shoulders. Minho did the same and the two of the carefully stood, picking Jorge up with them. Teresa picked up Thomas’ bag from where it was still on the floor and walked towards the exit, the boys following behind her.

* * *

 

Newt always hated it when the runners left, always worried that someone would get hurt and they wouldn’t make it back. Today was no different, in fact today had been even worse. This was the furthest anyone had ventured into the city since the flare hit, and none of them new what they’d find.

He’d been sat up in the watchtower for hours now, watching past the wall to see the runners return, to know that they were okay. It was starting to turn dark and he was getting worried, Thomas had promised him they’d be back before dark, so where was he?

“Newt?” Newt looked down from his perch to see Chuck stood at the bottom of the ladder, the kid was still too scared to go up to the top, and after how they’d found him they couldn’t blame him for it. “Can you see them?” Newt shook his head, looking back out over the wall.

“No, not yet. But they’ll be back soon, don’t worry.” That’s when he saw it, Teresa on her own running back towards the gates, carrying someone else’s bag. Thomas’ bag. He must have looked worried because Chuck called up to him again.

“What’s wrong? Are they coming back? Newt!” Newt looked down to him, panic evident on his face.

“Chuck go and open the gates, now!” Chuck nodded and ran over to the gates, unlocking them and pulling them open just in time for Teresa to run through them, dropping both her and Thomas’ bags on the floor. Newt climbed quickly down the ladder, ignoring the ache in his leg and ran over to her.

“Teresa what happened? Where’s-?” She stood resting her hands on her knees, breathing heavily and shook her head.

“Toms fine… It’s Jorge… He… He got bit.” She spoke between breaths. Newt looked back out the gate but he couldn’t see anything, there was no sight of the boys out in the woods.

She stood upright, taking a big gulp of air before composing herself and running back out through the gates. Newt didn’t even think when he ran out after her, ignoring the pain in his leg. They ran for about five minutes before they found them, sharing Jorge’s weight between them. Newt and Teresa each took the weight of one of his legs and helped the boys carry him back to the gates.

“Newt, you shouldn’t-” Newt looked over at Thomas and shook his head.

“Not now.” When they made it past the gates, Chuck shut them, locking them up again before following them all to the shelter. They laid Jorge on the floor and Newt crouched down next to him, he peeled back the blood soaked bandages and saw the bite on his shoulder. He hadn’t wanted to believe it until then but there was no use denying it now.

“Someone needs to get Brenda.” He looked over to the four of them stood in the entrance to the shelter, but none of them made any sign that they were going to move. “Now!” He could see Chuck jump and then run off to go and find Brenda. A few minutes later Brenda came running into the tent, stopping as soon as she saw Jorge. She threw herself down on the floor next to him and leant over his body, a chocked sob ripping through her throat.

Newt felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Thomas, in the panic of what had happened he’d forgotten all about the other runners, but he could now see that Thomas had blood splattered on the side of his face, down his shirt and all over his trousers. Thomas took his hand and pulled him up, taking him out of the tent and away from the others. As soon as Thomas turned back to talk to him Newt put his arms around Thomas’ neck and pulled him in close, burying his head in the crook of Thomas’ neck.

“I thought you were dead, when Teresa came back on her own I thought…” He could feel a tear roll down his cheek as Thomas wrapped his arms around Newts waist, pulling him in closer.

“I’m okay, I’m sorry I scared you like that, but I promise I’m fine.” He smiled and placed a kiss on the top of Newts head. “I promised I’d be back, didn’t I?” Newt took in a shaky breath and pulled back slightly so that he could see Thomas’ face, he leant in and kissed him gently on the lips, running his fingers through the back of Thomas’ hair.

“Please don’t ever do that to me again, Tommy, not ever, you hear me?” Thomas nodded, pushing a few strands of hair away from Newt’s face.

“I hear you.” Newt loosened his grip on Thomas and took a step back, taking hold of his hand and using his free hand to wipe at his eyes. He looked over at the shelter, Brenda was sat next to Jorge, holding his hand in both of hers, still shaking slightly from crying.

“What are we gonna do, Tommy? What if he wakes up? We can’t just let him suffer like this, it’s not right.” Thomas looked over at them too and frowned, he looked exhausted.

“I don’t know, I guess we have to leave that up to Brenda. They are family after all.” He knew Thomas was right, they didn’t really have a say in all of this. He just really hoped that Jorge woke up, so that Brenda could at least say goodbye to him. Alby, who was just leaving the shelter, came over to stand by them.

“You two should go and get some rest, there’s nothing we can do until he wakes up now.” Both Newt and Alby looked over at Thomas, he looked annoyed and Newt knew he was blaming himself for what had happened.

“Tom this was not your fault, so don’t you dare go thinking that.” Thomas dropped his gaze from Jorge to stare down at his feet.

“If I’d just been faster getting there… maybe if we hadn’t split up he’d still be okay.” Alby placed a comforting hand on Thomas’ shoulder.  

“Newt’s right, Thomas. You couldn’t have known this was going to happen.” He pulled his hand away and patted Newt gently on the shoulder. “Now both of you, get some sleep, I’ll come and get you if he wakes up.”

Now that he was starting to calm down, the pain in his leg was becoming a lot more obvious. He moved so that he was putting more of his weight onto his good leg and scrunched his face up a bit in pain. Thomas must have seen because he pulled Newts hand so that his arm was around Thomas’ shoulder, letting him lean into him as they walked over to their tent, picking up his bag on the way. He helped Newt to sit down carefully before rummaging around in his bag and pulling out one of the bottles of pain medication and passing it to Newt, grabbing a bottle of water from their supplies box at the back of the tent for him. Newt took two pills from the bottle and swallowed them, taking a long gulp of water to help wash them down.

“Thanks.” Thomas smiled and put the pills back in his bag.

“No problem, I found another two bottles so we’ve got plenty for a while.” Newt leant over and pulled the supplies box closer to him, taking out a bowl and a piece of cloth. Thomas frowned, watching him. “What are you doing?” Newt poured some of the water he had left into the bowl and dipped the cloth into it.

“Cleaning your face, you’re all covered in blood. Come here.” Thomas obliged and moved so he was sat directly in front of Newt. Newt took hold of Thomas’ chin and gently moved his face to the left so he could see he right side better. He took the cloth and wiped it down the side of Thomas’ face, cleaning away the blood with each movement. He put the cloth back in the water and repeated, moving to clean under his chin and neck. He used the dry end of the cloth to catch any water that was dripping down his neck.

When he was done he put the cloth back in the bowl and pushed it to one side, he tugged up Thomas’ shirt, the other boy helping to pull it over his head. The white shirt was covered in blood and smelled strongly of what Newt could only describe as death. Thomas leant over him and took a cleaner, long sleeved, blue shirt from their small clothes pile to put on, he did the same with his jeans, pulling them off and switching them out for a pair of cotton pyjama pants. Newt looked over to the door of the tent, wanting to go out and help but not knowing if there was anything he could do. Thomas seemed to know what he was thinking.

“There’s isn’t anything you can do for them right now, Alby said so, all we can do is wait for him to wake up.” Newt sighed and zipped up the tent, turning back to Thomas who was now laying on his back under the blanket. Newt lifted up the corner and crawled in next to him, laying his head on Thomas’ shoulder and wrapping an arm around his waist. Thomas put his arm around Newts back, rubbing his thumb along his side.

“D’you want to talk about it?” He could feel more than see Thomas shaking his head and decided to drop it, if Thomas wanted to talk to him later he would, but for now he could wait. With the pain medication starting to kick in and the warmth from Thomas’ body, Newt found himself drifting off to sleep.


	2. There’s nothing good about goodbyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Can you please stop talking about him like he’s not here?” Brenda spoke from behind them. Her eyes were still red from crying and she looked tired, Newt guessed she probably hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, not that he could blame her. “He’s still a human being, not some animal that you can just put down to what? Put him out of his misery? Have any of you even asked Jorge what he wants?”

It was a warm day, warmest one they’d had in a while and they were likely to have again. The runners were making a trip into the city to stock up on food for the fast approaching winter. The ground was covered in leaves that had fallen from the trees in piles of brown and orange, they crunched underfoot so they were having to be more careful about where they stepped to try and reduce the amount of noise they were making.

Minho lead the group with Thomas tailing a few meters behind, making sure everyone got there in one piece. They’d convinced Alby to join them on the run and he was managing to keep up, they needed the extra hand to carry back as much as they could. The plan was to stock up on supplies to reduce the number of trips they would need to make during the winter, where the weather would make everything more dangerous.

As they approached the city Thomas couldn’t help but be amazed at how quite it was, even after four months he was still shocked by it. It always shocked him to think that, in a city that was so big that they were the only ones still around. He liked to think that maybe there were other people out on the woods, or maybe hiding out in an apartment building somewhere but, after so long without seeing anyone else, he was starting to lose hope.

Thomas ran a bit faster when they started to approach where they needed to be so that he was next to Newt, matching his pace so that they could run together. It was always nice to be out of the confines of the camp but with both Newt and Teresa out with him he sometimes found it a bit harder to concentrate on the task at hand, worrying about them too much. Newt always told him to ‘suck it up and deal with it shank, because I’m not leaving you to go out there without me’ so that’s what he tried to do.

In front of them Minho turned down one of the many deserted roads and slowed to a stop, the rest of the group stopping around him, waiting for instructions. Alby took his place beside Minho, and turned to face to group.

“We want to take back as much food as we can find, anything in tins, stuff that’s not going to go off. You find it, bag it and meet back here.” Thomas nodded his confirmation with the rest of the group. “We’ll split off into two groups so we can cover more ground. I’ll go with Jorge and Minho, we’ll take the left.” He looked over at Thomas as he spoke, “You three take the right.” When he was done he looked over at Minho who took the knife out of his holster and pointed it at each of them as he spoke.

“Remember the rules. Stay together, don’t stray too far from the rest of the group and if you find and Cranks, don’t try and be a shucking hero, call for backup.” Thomas stood up straight and raised his hand in a salute, Newt and Teresa following suit behind him.

“Yes sir.” Minho rolled his eyes at the three of them and walked over to the first building, calling back to them as he went.

“Just get to it, you shanks.” Thomas laughed as he too pulled out his knife from its holster and went over to the first building on the right, Newt and Teresa following behind him. After doing a quick check to make sure the store was empty he went back to the front door, putting the knife back in its place.

“Looks pretty empty, but I think I saw some canned food over by the tills on the left.” Teresa perked up and that and went over to have a look, Thomas decided to take a look over the other side to see if he could find anything, leaving Newt to double check that the street was clear before making his way into the store.

Thomas was right about his first opinion, the store was pretty empty; It’d been four months since the outbreak so he couldn’t say he was all that surprised, it was getting harder to find anything useful these days. He kicked at the empty boxes on the ground, scanning the shelves to see if there was anything useful that he could take back to camp.

By the time he made it to the end of the aisle he’d managed to pick up a few pairs of socks from the bottom shelves, a half empty box of matches and a deck of playing cards. Nothing that they actually came in looking for but he bagged them anyway, thinking that they’d probably come in useful soon.

Looking up he noticed that the higher shelves seemed to have more on them than the ones lower down, so after testing the weight of the shelves by putting some pressure on them he decided they’d be able to take his weight and stepped onto one of the low down shelves, pulling himself up so that he could see what was up there. He managed to find three cans of corned beef, a few bags of peanuts and some bottled water. He carefully climbed along sideways further across the shelving unit and smiled at what he saw.

“Hey Newt, get over here, I found something for you.” He picked the box up of the shelf and jumped down off the shelf, throwing the box to Newt when he turned round the corner. Newt flinched when the box came towards it but caught it any way, his face visibly lighting up when he saw what it was, looking over at Thomas with a smile on his face.

“I bloody love you sometimes, where’d you find these?” Thomas gestured to the shelves behind him.

“Up on the top shelf.” Newt put the box into his bag before putting it back over his shoulder.

“I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed tea, Tommy.”

“You kind of already have, multiple times and that’s just today.” Newt laughed and punched Thomas lightly on the arm.

“Shut up, you know what I mean.” Thomas leant in to give Newt a quick kiss but jumped and whipped round when he heard Teresa speaking behind him.

“If you two lovebirds are quite done, I could use a hand bagging the rest of this stuff.” He heard Newt laughing next to him and Thomas rolled his eyes, pushing at Newt’s shoulder playfully as he moved past him to follow Teresa over to the other side of the store. The three of them packed cans of beans and vegetables, filling their bags more than they’d been able to in weeks.

Just as Thomas was putting the last can in his bag he heard a loud crashing noise coming from the other side of the store. He put the can in his bag, putting it on his back and taking his knife out of his holster. He moved down to the end of the aisle, gesturing for the others to follow him. He could hear Teresa take the safety on her gun as she came up behind him, a quick glance behind him saw Newt heading in the other direction, going round the other side, alone.

“Teresa, go get the others.” He spoke in a whisper, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. Teresa looked like she was going to argue with him but he shook his head. “You know the rules, we need backup.” She sighed and looked round the corner, checking it was clear before making a run for the doors to find Minho and the others. Thomas followed behind her, walking to the other side of the store where he heard the noise.

He couldn’t see anything and he was pretty sure the store had been empty when they’d come in, so he was silently hoping that something had fallen of on its own, however unlikely he knew it to be.

He was about halfway to the other side when he heard a quieter clatter and turned to see Newt down the end of the aisle stood frozen still, a few cans rolling past him. Newt looked up slowly, trying not to make any more noise but his worried expression quickly turned to fear and Thomas immediately knew what he’d seen.

“Newt, move!” This seemed to spur Newt into action as he raised his sword high above his head and swung it down hard, lodging it into the head of one of the Cranks. Luckily Thomas’ shouting had drawn some of the Cranks his way because Newt seemed to be unable to retrieve his sword as the Crank fell to the floor. He was pulled at it but it was no use, two more were already running toward him.

Thomas didn’t have time to help him as three Cranks had turned his way and were forcing him back in the other direction. He ran, shouting, trying to draw the other Cranks away from Newt so he could go back for his weapon but with no luck. Cursing, he span round, shoving his knife hard into the side of the Cranks head. After pulling the knife out he pushed the Crank hard backwards, knocking its lifeless body into another one, causing both to fall to the floor, trapping the other Crank on the floor.

He reached up and covered his ears as a gunshot blasted from behind him, hitting the remaining Crank and stopping it in its tracks. The noise made his ears ring and for a minute all he could hear was a buzzing noise, and what sounded like someone calling his name.

Teresa and Alby grabbed his arms and dragged him out of the store back onto the main street, he tried pull away from them and get back to Newt but with no luck. The buzzing subsided and he could hear more clearly now the sounds of Newt calling for him, his voice shaking from fear.

From the large store windows he could see Newt on the ground, pain evident on his features, trying to push himself back. The two Cranks closing in on him as he backed into the corner, calling out desperately for help.

“Tom, wake up!” Thomas woke up with a start to Newt hovering over him, hands on his shoulders and gently shaking him. Newt let out a breath he must have been holding and pulled Thomas up towards him into a tight hug. “It’s okay, it was just a dream. You’re fine.” But he didn’t feel fine. He’d had the same dream every night now for weeks; only it wasn’t a dream, it was a memory.

Thomas let out a shaky breath and wrapped his arms around Newt, leaning into him. He still blamed himself for what happened. If he’d just checked better to make sure the store was empty then it never would have happened. He should have been there to help him.

“I’m sorry.” Newt pulled back, a frown on his face.

“Not this again, please. None of it was your fault, I don’t blame you for it so you sure as hell shouldn’t either.” But it was easier said than done. Watching Newt terrified and in pain from the other side of the wall had been torture. Trying to pull away from the two holding him back to get to him even more so. Watching as Minho took down both Cranks in time as Newt curled up against the wall with his hands over his ears, trying to protect himself from the threat, knowing that if he’d been just a little bit more careful then they’d all be okay.

He tried to look away from him but Newt took his head in his hands and turned him so he had no choice but to listen. “I’m fine. Teresa’s fine. You did nothing wrong, if it wasn’t for you I would’ve had five Cranks on me and I never would have gotten out of there alive. You saved me Tommy. You, Minho, Teresa, all of you. You saved me.” He smiled, kissing Thomas on the forehead before he stood up, grabbing his hat and pulling it on over his ears. “Now come on and get up, Jorge is awake and I’m sure he’ll want to see you.”

* * *

Newt hated it when Thomas would wake up from a dream like that. He hated how scared he looked, he hated that it was him that had caused that. He hated what the world had become, somewhere that your nightmares became your reality and you dreamed of a normal day that you knew was far from being real. He hated a lot of things, but having Thomas alive wasn’t one of them. He knew the fear was bad, but fear was what kept you alive now and he’d take a scared, wary Thomas over not having him at all.

He felt ashamed in himself for thinking it, but he was glad for the dreams in a way, glad that he wasn’t the only one that was broken. He had his leg, the physical reminder that they weren’t safe, that they would never truly be safe. Thomas had his dreams, reminding him that even in sleep he couldn’t get away from the danger. Even Minho was a bit broken; the sarcastic, over-excitable boy was gone and he left behind a tired, serious man who didn’t let anyone get too close in the fear that he might lose them. Now it was starting to look like they were going to lose someone, and soon.

Newt was stood with Minho, Alby and Gally over by the gates, the furthest they could get from the shelter without leaving the confines of the walls surrounding the camp, in the hopes that Jorge wouldn’t be able to hear their discussion. The wind had picked up from the day before and Newt was glad for the hat Teresa had found for him a few days before. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself, hoping for a bit of extra warmth and aired his concerns to the group.

“What are we going to do with him? We can’t just leave him there, he’ll become dangerous.”

“Newt’s right,” Minho agreed, looking over at the shelter where Jorge was sat, leaning against one of the walls. “We need to do something soon, before it’s too late.”

“You all know what we need to do.” Newt sighed, they’d been over this before.

“Gally, we can’t-” Gally snapped his gaze over to Newt, glaring at him.

“What? Because it’s not our decision?”

“You know it’s not.” Newt rubbed the back of his neck, Minho nudged him and nodded toward the shelter. He looked over just as Brenda walked out, heading over to them. Gally either didn’t notice or he didn’t care, because he just carried on with his argument.

“And why not? We’re a group, we should decide what to do with him as a group.”

“We’re not just going to kill him Gally.” Alby spoke up “Just because the world’s gone to hell doesn’t mean we’re just going to let you get away with murdering someone.” Gally moved so that he was stood directly in front of Alby, arms crossed over his chest.

“Who made you in charge anyway? Who are you to say I can’t put him down if I want to?”

“Can you please stop talking about him like he’s not here?” Brenda spoke from behind them. Her eyes were still red from crying and she looked tired, Newt guessed she probably hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, not that he could blame her. “He’s still a human being, not some animal that you can just put down to what? Put him out of his misery? Have any of you even asked Jorge what he wants?”

Newt glanced round at the others, but no one spoke up, at least Gally had the decency to look ashamed with what he’d said, taking a few steps back from Alby. Brenda was right though, not one of them had stopped to think about what Jorge would want to do, it was his life they were talking about after all. He looked down, not wanting to catch Brenda’s eyes, disappointed in himself. 

“No, that’s what I thought.” She walked over to the supplies tent, brushing past Thomas as he emerged from his tent. He looked like he was trying to speak to her but she just shook her head, heading inside the tent. Thomas watched her go then made his way over to the shelter, ruffling Chucks hair from where he sat by the fire on his way past.

Newt and Minho followed, not wanting to leave anyone alone with Jorge and left Gally to go join Teresa up in the watchtower and Alby went to go and sit with Chuck over by the fire.

When they reached the shelter Thomas took a seat next to Jorge on the floor, Newt and Minho leant against the wall opposite, none of them entirely sure what to say.

Jorge looked worse than he had done the day before, the bleeding had long since stopped but the loss of blood had made him pale. Sweat was falling in droplets down his forehead, the fever from the infection was obviously starting to set in.

Minho was the first one to speak and Newt could see he regretted it as soon as he did.

“How’re you feeling?” Jorge looked over at Minho and raised his eyebrows, “Right, sorry. Stupid question.”

“You’re damn right it was, you shucking idiot.” No one in their group had ever been infected before so they didn’t know what to expect. But from what they’d seen so far the virus seemed to be playing with his emotions, making him a lot more irritable than usual.

It all made Newt feel a bit uncomfortable watching him go through it, thinking about how it was almost him a few months ago. Thomas reached out and put his hand on Jorge’s’ uninjured shoulder.

“Is there anything we can do for you?” Jorge scoffed and shrugged Thomas’ hand off, wincing when the movement made pain flare up in his shoulder.

“No, not from you.” He looked over at Newt and Minho “Not from any of you.” Newt frowned and looked over at Minho who looked equally confused by what Jorge was saying.

“What do you mean?” Jorge rolled his eyes and looked back over to Thomas, who pushed himself a bit further away from him along the ground.

“Oh don’t play innocent Thomas, you know exactly what I mean. None of you care about me, all you cared about was saving Minho, left me to just lay there bleeding all over the floor. And you,” He turned point at Minho. “You said the shop was empty, you said it was _safe_!” He shouted he last word, causing Minho to flinch and look away from him. Thomas stood up of the floor and backed up towards the door.

Jorge just carried on. “What’s your definition of safe, huh? Plenty of Cranks around so that you can play the hero and look cool in front of everyone?” Minho looked like he was going to argue, pushing himself away from the wall to walk over to Jorge but Newt grabbed his arm, pulling him back over to where Thomas was standing.

“You’re the worst of them you know.” Newt knew that Jorge was talking about him now, but he just carried on walking, Jorge just spoke louder so that he could hear him. “Acting the victim all the time.” Jorge was laughing now, and he spoke in a voice Newt assumed was meant to be mocking him, “ _’Oh Tommy, my leg hurts so bad, come kiss it better Tommy, please.’_ It’s pathetic!”

Newt watched as Thomas clenched his hands into fists and went to turn back but Newt and Minho pulled him back over to fire where they were out of Jorge’s line of vision. Newt sat down on a log and rested his head on his hands, watching the fire.  The flare was effecting Jorge in ways that they’d never anticipated, the pain was obviously something they knew was going to happen but the anger? They knew the infected turned violent, but they hadn’t thought it would be like that. Thomas sat down beside him and huffed out a breath.

“He shouldn’t speak to you like that, it’s not okay.”

“Just leave it Tom, he doesn’t mean it.”

“But what if he does?” He turned his body so he was facing Newt, sitting with his legs on either side of the log. “What if all of this is just what he’s wanted to say but never had the courage to? We can’t just let him talk to everyone like that.”

“Well what do you suggest? Tying him up and gagging him until he finally breaks?” Thomas looked like he was actually considering it and Newt was disgusted, remembering what Brenda had said. “How can you say that? He’s a human being Thomas, not an animal.”

“A human being? Newt he’s turning, soon there’ll be no human left!”

“Oh so that makes it okay then?”

“If it means he won’t hurt you, then yes.” Newt turned away from him, looking back at the rest of the group. Everyone looked away from where they’d obviously been watching them, only Minho kept his gaze.

“What about you? D’you think he’s right.” Minho looked conflicted, glancing over at the shelter before answering.

“We need to keep him tied up, no question about it if that’s how he’s acting after just a few hours, but it doesn’t mean we have to be happy about it.” Newt scoffed and stood up from the log, heading over to his tent to be away from them for a bit, he knew Minho had a point but he didn’t want to admit it.

Thomas got up and followed him, grabbing his hand, trying to get him to come back.

“Just leave me alone, Tom.” He tried to pull his hand away, but Thomas tightened his grip, reaching up to hold Newts face in his hand, pushing him gently to face him like Newt had done to him not long ago. Newt sighed and squeezed Thomas’ hand lightly, looking up at him. “I’m sorry, I know he’s dangerous now I just-”

“It’s okay, you’re right. Treating him like would be far from okay if this was a few months ago, but it’s not. You know what’s going to happen to him and you know it’s the only way that’s going to keep everyone safe. To keep _you_ safe.” Newt knew that Thomas was right, that Jorge was going to become dangerous and they were going to have to take care of it. But it didn’t mean he had to like it.

“I don’t need you to look after me Tommy. I can take care of myself.”

“I know that, but just humour me on this, please?” Newt nodded, but stumbled back a few paces when Brenda bumped into him as she came out of the supplies tent, losing his grip on Thomas’ hand.

“Hey, watch where you’re going.” She didn’t answer. He had his back to her so he couldn’t see where she was going, but Thomas’ face suddenly dropped, his eyes widening as he ran over to her.

“Brenda, no!” A loud gunshot sounded and Newt reached up to cover his ears from the noise, turning to find where the sound had come from.

Everything had gone quite, Brenda was stood in front of the shelter, arm raised, gun in hand, tears streaming down her face. Thomas was stood halfway between the shelter and the fire, one hand on his ear, the other reaching out to her. His hand dropped to his side when he turned to look at the shelter, obviously in shock.

Newt moved his hands away from his head and walked towards the shelter, he’d already guessed what he was going to see but he was still couldn’t believe his eyes. Jorge sat slumped on the floor, blood splattered against the wall and dripping down his face, eyes glazed over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is completely un-beta'd so I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes that are in this, if there's anything glaringly obvious please let me know and I'll fix it. But yeah, let me know what you think!  
> Come and follow me on tumblr if you want, I'm newtttheglue


	3. These walls don’t make us safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas heard a scream from Teresa and turned to see that one of the Cranks had been knocked backwards and fallen top of her. She’d dropped her knife and was trying to reach out for it whilst attempting to push the Crank away from her with her other arm, it’s jaws snapping close to her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so much longer than the last chapter, I don't even have a particularly good reason other than I was just struggling to finish it. But here it is, chapter three!

The silence that followed the gun shot was deafening.

Newt couldn’t move from where he was stood, too shocked to do anything. He didn’t understand what had happened, Brenda had been the one trying to convince them not to do anything stupid, to treat him like a human being and not a monster. It just didn’t make sense that she’d kill him.

Brenda seemed to fully realise what she’d just done as the gun slipped from her fingers and dropped to the ground by her feet. Newt heard a noise from behind him and turned to see what was going on, dragged out of his thoughts.

Gally had climbed down from the watchtower, jumping the last few steps and landing with a thud on the ground. If Newt wasn’t still in shock he probably would have tried to stop Gally but as it was he did nothing when the boy shoved past him to get to Brenda, besides take a few steps backwards to stop himself form falling.

“Gally, No!” Teresa was calling down from the watchtower, climbing the steps herself to get down to the ground with the others. It was no use though, Gally wasn’t listening. Newt looked back over to Brenda in time to see Gally grab her by the front of her shirt and push her back hard into the wall surrounding the camp, causing it to shake and not for the first time, Newt was worried it was going to fall.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He had his arm pressed hard against Brenda’s neck, she reached up to try and pull him off but he wouldn’t budge, her fingers grasping at his arm as she tried to draw a breath. “Do you realise how many Cranks you’ll have brought our way? How shucking stupid can you get?!” He was shouting now. It suddenly struck Newt that what Gally was saying was right, he wouldn’t be surprised if the sound had been heard all the way out to the city. But even if the gun shot hadn’t confirmed their location to the hundreds of Cranks that were roaming the forest, then Gally’s shouting sure as hell would be. Newt took a few tentative steps towards him, reaching out to try and get him to let go of Brenda.

“Gally, you need to-” Gally spun round to face Newt, a glare set on his face. He heard Teresa audibly gasp form behind him as Gally held the gun Brenda had dropped pointed at Newts head; he hadn’t noticed him pick it up before. Newt stood up straight and raised his hands in surrender, backing off. He didn’t want to give Gally a reason to pull the trigger.

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down.” A crunch sounded to the right of Newt but he didn’t dare take his eyes off Gally, too scared of what might happen if he did. “Back off Thomas, or I shoot.” On hearing who it was Newt risked a glance to the side. Thomas had moved closer to Gally in what Newt hoped was to try and get him to drop the gun. Thomas was looking back at him, worry evident on his face. Newt nodded at him, trying to tell him it was okay. “I swear to God, Thomas, if you don’t move…”

“Okay, I’m moving. I’m going.” Thomas backed off until he was stood beside Minho and Alby by the fire, not once looking away from Newt as he moved. Brenda’s face was starting to go red, she was digging her nails into Gally’s arm, trying to get him to let go. Gally’s expression hardened as Brenda managed to aim a kick at his shins, he lowered the gun so it was no longer pointed at Newt and turned back to Brenda, pressing it to her stomach.

Newt couldn’t help the wave of relief he felt when he was able to drop his arms. Minho and Alby ran past him and each grabbed one of Gally’s arms and pulling back hard, forcing him to drop the gun and release his hold on Brenda. Brenda fell to her knees on the floor, coughing and forcing as much air into her lungs as possible. Teresa rushed over to make sure she was okay, kneeling on the ground beside her, rubbing a soothing hand over her back glaring daggers at Gally as she did. Thomas had moved to stand next to him, his arm wrapped around Newts waist as he pulled him closer, squeezing his hip reassuringly.

Gally had managed to pull away from the grip Minho and Alby had on him and had retreated to the other side of the camp, back to the watchtower. He grabbed his bat from where it lay at the bottom of the tree on his way up, ignoring the two of them as they tried talk him down.

Newt completely understood Gally’s reaction to what had happened, even though he acknowledged that the way he’d gone about expressing it was wrong. They’d had an incident three months ago, back when the camp walls were only half up in most places and a group of Cranks had managed to get in during the night. No one had gotten hurt, thank god, but it had been their first real encounter with the Cranks and they’d all been terrified, Gally especially.

Newt wasn’t surprised though, he suspected that it hadn’t been Gally’s first run in with the Cranks. When Gally had first shown up at the camp he’d looked terrified. He was covered in blood, none of which was his own and had almost killed them all on site. Newt had never asked, he didn’t think Gally would tell him even if he did, but he could tell Gally had lost someone important to him that day and the thought of losing the only people he had left was definitely something that Newt could relate too.

“I had to.” Newt snapped his gaze away from Gally to Brenda. She seemed to have gotten her breath back and she was now leaning back against the wall, staring at Jorge. “He… He asked me, I had to.” She glanced back to Teresa where she was kneeling in front of her, tears threatening to spill over. “I didn’t think. I had to do it, I’m sorry.” Teresa reached out and took hold of her hands.

“It’s okay, it’s fine. Just ignore Gally, he’s over reacting. We’ll be fine.” Newt knew she was just trying to make Brenda feel better, but even he could tell that she didn’t believe what she was saying. The chances of them not drawing attention to themselves from the gun shot were slim, and they all knew it.

“I’m going to go do a perimeter check.” Thomas spoke up from beside him, he was obviously thinking the same thing. “See whether or not we’ve drawn any Cranks over.” Teresa gave Brenda a small smile and stood up, brushing the dirt off her knees and picking up the gun that was still on the ground. She put it in the waistband of her jeans, tucking her shirt behind it so she would have better access to it if she really needed it.

“I’ll go with you, we’ll get it done faster with the two of us. We can split up and-”

“Woah no, splitting up is not a good idea.” Minho had joined the group now, deciding just to leave Gally be. “We don’t know how bad it’s going to be, and if you get attacked by a herd out on your own then you’re done for.” Minho was right, taking on a few Cranks at a time was difficult enough as it is, but a whole herd of them? No one was good enough to do that on their own. Teresa looked annoyed but Newt knew she agreed with Minho.

“Okay then fine, we’ll stick together. Do a sweep of the area and report back.”

“Alby and I’ll come with, that way we can do half each, we’ll cover more ground and get back faster.” Thomas nodded his confirmation and went to go and get some supplies from the tent, running his hand across the small of Newt’s back as he went, Teresa following after him. Newt was about to ask Minho if he could come along and help them but he was cut off before he even opened his mouth.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“But-”

“Newt please, I know what you’re going to say buy just don’t. Not now.” Minho already had his knife in the holster on his hip and Alby was coming over with two guns, throwing one to Minho who caught it with ease. “Just stay and look after Chuck and Brenda, because God knows Gally sure ain’t gonna do it and I don’t think she should be left alone right now.” Even though Newt wished he could be of more use he agreed to stay behind, after what had happened today they didn’t need to be arguing over things that were really of no importance in the grand scheme of things.

Thomas and Teresa came and joined them; Teresa had her hair tied back off her face and was carrying a knife by her side along with the gun she’d picked up earlier. Thomas had grabbed a knife from the tent too but he also had Newts sword over his shoulder, the worn strap pulled tight across his chest.

“You and Alby ready to go?” Minho glanced over at where Alby was stood by the gates, lifting the plank that was holding the doors shut. He turned back to Thomas, nodding.

“Ready as we’ll ever be. You two shanks remember to-”

“Stay together, call if we need backup.” Teresa smiled as she listed off the rules. “We know Minho, we’ve done this a thousand times already.” Minho rolled his eyes, gripping the straps of his bag he made his way over to Alby and helped him push open the doors.

“I was gonna say remember to stay safe, but whatever.” The two doors swung open and Alby picked up his bag from the floor, throwing it over to Teresa who caught it with a huff.

“Just some supplies to keep you going in case you can’t get back.” Teresa thanked him and went to join the two of them to decide who was going where.

Newt grabbed Thomas’ hand when he went to join them and pulled him back, placing a quick kiss on his lips.

“Promise me you’ll come back if anything happens?” Thomas nodded and kissed him once again before pulling away, a small smile on his face.

“I promise I’ll come back, I always do.” Teresa was waiting over by the gates alone now, her bag hung over her shoulder. Thomas went over and joined her, pulling one of the doors closed as he passed it.

“Come on lover boy, we’ve got work to do.” The last thing Newt saw was Thomas kick at Teresa’s shins as the second door closed behind them, the sound of their feet hitting the ground retreating as they ran off into the forest.

* * *

 

Outside of the camp was quite. Frost was covering the ground, making it sparkle in the early morning light. Thomas couldn’t help but thinking about how beautiful it all looked, how peaceful it seemed. Of course he knew it was all an illusion, that there could be a Crank hidden anywhere out there, slowly rotting away.

He tried to keep his thoughts on the task at hand, making sure that everyone at the camp was going to be safe for another night.

He still couldn’t believe that Jorge was gone; it was stupid but he’d actually started to believe that they were all going to make it. It had been six months after all and the worst that had happened was the incident in with Newt, and even then they’d all gotten away with their lives. Jorge being bitten had brought him back to reality, reminded him that no matter what they did, or how hard they tried, they were never truly going to be safe. Not ever.

Teresa was running a few paces ahead of him, winding in and out of the trees, following the trail they’d made months before. It ran the perimeter of their camp but it wound round through the trees, giving them a good view of the whole area without straying too far away from the camp so they could get back quickly if they needed too.

He could feel the sword hitting his shoulder as he ran. He wasn’t as good with the sword as Newt was, no one was. Newt had gotten weirdly good with it, slicing it cleanly through the Cranks necks with a precision that none of them had ever thought possible. Newt hadn’t needed it as much since the accident, so Thomas liked to bring it with him sometimes on a run because it reminded him of Newt. Reminded him how dangerous what he was doing really was, that one slip up could cost him dearly. That he needed to keep safe the people that he loved the most, and that was all that mattered anymore.

Thomas was surprised by how quite it was, usually they’d see at least a few cranks on a perimeter check but they were almost half way round their lap now and they’d still seen nothing. Maybe Teresa had been right; maybe they were going to be okay after all.

Teresa stopped running ahead of him and help up a hand to get him to stop too, to be quite. He slowed to a stop and reached behind him to take the sword out of its holster, pulling it swiftly up and over his shoulder. Teresa moved so that her hand was around the hilt of her knife, ready to attack. Thomas looked round the area they were now in and it didn’t take him long to find what it was that she’d seen.

Over by the lake a group of around twenty Cranks were all huddled together, walking in the direction of their camp. They were too far away from the herd for the Cranks to hear them but they both stood stock still, trying to make as little noise as possible.

This was the biggest group Thomas had ever seen and he was suddenly glad that Teresa had come with him. Minho had been right, if he was alone there was no way in hell he’d be able to do anything about them.

Thomas grabbed Teresa by the wrist and pulled her back down the trail they’d come down a few paces, so they could still see the Cranks but they were far enough away to be certain of not being noticed, he didn’t want to risk drawing them over when they weren’t ready for them.

“What are we going to do, Tom?” He could see how worried she was, she kept glancing back over at the herd, turning the knife over in her hands now that she’s taken it out of the holster. “We need to go and get backup, there’s too many of them.”

“We don’t have time for that.” Minho and Alby would be too far away on the other side of the camp by now and he didn’t want to drag Gally or Newt out of the camp if he couldn’t help it, going back to any of them would just waste time. “Besides, by the time we find someone and get back here the group will have gone and we might not find them again until it’s too late.”

“Okay, so what are we going to do? We can’t just go in their guns blazing, who knows how many more of them are out there?”

“We need to pick them off from behind.” The herd had moved further away from the lake now, moving through the trees. They’d started to pick up the pace as they got closer to the camp walls. They were close enough that Thomas could see the smoke coming from the fire and he knew that they had to act fast. “If we go round to the right you can start to pick them off from behind and I’ll go round the side, give us more of an angle to work from.”

“You really think that’ll work?” He didn’t. Realistically he knew the chances of them being able to kill all of the Cranks was slim, but they had to try. If it’d save the camp then it’d be worth the risk. He nodded at Teresa and she let out a deep sigh, tightening the straps on her bag. “Alright then, let’s do this.”

Thomas led in front as they followed the trail down towards the lake, being more careful than before not to step on anything that would make a noise. When they were closer to the herd Thomas gestured for Teresa to turn off, giving her a small smile before she ran off in the direction of the herd. Thomas kept going until he too turned towards the herd and started to close in on them to the side.

He slowed as he reached the herd, the smell of rotting flesh reaching him as he did so; it was definitely something about this new world that he wasn’t going to get used too.

He quickly checked to make sure Teresa was okay and in position before springing into action.

He grabbed the shoulder of the nearest Crank and pulled it backwards, pushing the sword straight through the back of its head and out through the other side. He had to force himself not to gag at the sound it made as he pulled it out again, and he let the Crank fall to the ground by his feet. The noise had drawn two other Cranks in his direction but the rest of the herd were still moving towards the camp and for that Thomas was grateful.

It gave him the time to take a step away from the herd and swing the sword across in an arc at the Cranks heads, slicing off the first and embedding it hard into the skull of the second one. He kicked up with his leg and pushed hard at the Cranks chest, using enough force to knock its body backwards and free the sword from where it had lodged itself deep in the bone of it's skull.

The attack had been enough to kill the Crank, but the force of pushing it backwards had caused it to knock into the herd and caught their attention, all of them suddenly turning on him. He heard a scream from Teresa and turned to see that one of the Cranks had been knocked backwards and fallen top of her.

She’d dropped her knife and was trying to reach out for it whilst attempting to push the Crank away from her with her other arm, it’s jaws snapping close to her face.

Thomas managed to duck past a Crank that was coming his way and run over to Teresa, picking the knife up on the way and shoving it deep into the Cranks head, pushing it off her. He grabbed Teresa’s hand and pulled her up off the floor. She went to go and pull her knife back from the Crank but the herd had all turned on them, clambering over its lifeless body to get to them.

The whole herd were facing them now, moving away from the camp. They’d gotten a lot closer to the camp now and Thomas could see the watchtower through the trees but, from the looks of things, no one was up there. No one could see they were in trouble.

He cursed to himself and passed his knife from its holster over to Teresa in time for her to ram it through the side of one of the Cranks and push it back towards the herd, knocking another one down and pinning it to the ground. Just as Thomas was raising the sword up to take another swing at the Cranks a gunshot sounded from the camp and he froze.

The camp must have been breached from the other side. All he could think about was how they needed to get back. He’d promised Newt that he’d be back.

“Thomas, move!” Teresa snapped him out of his thoughts so he had time to swing the sword in the direction of the herd, slicing one of the more decomposed of the group in half. He looked away as the blood splashed up his shirt and started to pool at his feet, seeing a body fall apart wasn’t something that he particularly wanted to watch, but the sound it made as it did gave him a pretty good idea of what he was missing out on.

Thanks to the gunshot, most of the herd had turned away from them, so the two of them were able to quickly get rid of the four that were still facing them without the rest of the herd pilling up. Thomas was about to follow the rest of them but Teresa took hold of his wrist, pulling him back towards the tree line.

“We need to go back Tom,” She was talking as quietly as she could, face close to his, “if something’s happening at the Camp we need to go and help.” Thomas was conflicted. He knew that the weakest members of the group were left at the camp and they needed their help, but if they didn’t stop the herd that was going their way then they wouldn’t be much help at all. Teresa seemed to know what he was thinking, “The walls on this side of camp are the strongest; we’ll know if they reach it but they won’t get through. They need us Tom, so we need to go. Now.” Thomas knew she was right so he nodded his agreement and Teresa let go of him, going over to one of the fallen Cranks to retrieve her knife now that the herd had moved on. She took off running towards the entrance to camp, not bothering anymore to stick to the trails, keeping a tight hold of the knife as she ran.

With one last look towards the herd, Thomas ran after her as fast as he could.

* * *

 

Newt hadn’t known what to do with himself with the runners off outside the camp. He was no good at comforting people so he’d left Chuck and Brenda together by the fire to give them some space; they were both sat with blankets wrapped around their shoulders and mugs of warm soup in their hands, huddled close together for warmth.

Chuck had made sure they were sat facing away from the shelter, Brenda didn’t need to see what she’d done anymore that Newt wanted to acknowledge it. But with Gally off in a strop in the watchtower and the others gone out to check for Cranks, he was the only one who could do anything about it and they needed to do something sooner rather than later.

He took one of the spare blankets from inside the supplies tent and their only shovel and took them over to the shelter. Jorge was still slumped against the wall when he got there, a pool of blood collecting by his sides. He put the blanket on the floor, leaning the shovel up against the wall and carefully moved Jorge so that he was lying down on the floor. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to move Jorge very far on his own so he decided that he’d wait until the others were back to take him outside the camp and bury him. He'd go out with Alby later and dig a grave over by the lake, Jorge had seemed to like it over there. It was the only thing left they could really do for him now.

He lay the blanket out over Jorge’s body to cover him up and the off white colour of it almost immediately started to turn a deep red as the blood seeped through.

Shouting from outside the walls turned him away from his task with a frown, surely they shouldn't be back yet?

"Someone open the shucking gates, now!" Minho. Newt was shocked by how distressed he sounded so he stood up from the ground as fast as he could and ran to the gates, removing the plank of wood holding the doors closed and pulled one of the large doors open.

Minho appeared a few meters from the gates, dragging Alby along beside him. Alby had his arm slung around Minho's neck and blood was dripping from a gash on his head. Gally had climbed down from the watchtower and had now joined them. It wasn't until Gally took hold of Alby to take the weight from Minho that he noticed that Alby was unconscious. Gally carried him further into the camp and leant him up against one of the trees, calling Chuck over to help him clean up the wounds.

Newt shut the door when Minho stumbled inside, trying to catch his breath he leant against the wall, eyes closed.

"What the hell happened?"

"There's too many of them, Newt." Minho's eyes shot open and he turned to look round the camp and, obviously not seeing what he was looking for, he turned back to Newt, frowning. "Where's Thomas and Teresa? Are they not back yet?"

"No, they're still out there, they haven't been out for long. Minho, what happened to Alby?"

"One of the Cranks knocked him backwards and he tripper, hit is head on a rock, knocked himself off." Minho reached up and wiped a hand across his forehead, trying to rub away the mixture of sweat and blood. "I managed to distract them enough to get him away but they'll be heading this way, we need to-" A scream from outside the walls of the camp stopped Minho mid-sentence, both of them looking over in the direction of the sound. "Was that-?"

"Teresa." That meant they must have run into some Cranks too. "They're in trouble, Min, we need to find them."

" _We're_ not going anywhere. You stay with Alby, I’ll go and find them." Newt knew better by now that to protest, so he took the gun Minho passed him and helped him to take away the wooden panel from the door. As soon as they did the two of them were forced backwards as the doors swung open, a herd of Cranks forcing themselves though.

Newt didn't even stop to think about the noise when he turned the safety of his gun and shot at them. Two Cranks fell to the ground and another tripped over them, slowing the herd down, but only for a minute.

"Gally, cover for me!" Minho ran off towards the supplies tent, throwing Gally his bat as he came past. Gally barely even hesitated when he ran forward and swung the bat hard into the side of one of the Cranks head, causing blood to splash up into Newts face and the Crank to crash down to the floor, hard.

Newt shot two more bullets into the herd and tried for a third but nothing came out, he was out of bullets. He cursed and reached behind him for his sword, only to remember that Thomas had it. He only just had time to step to the side as one of the Cranks came stumbling past him, reaching forward to claw at his arm. He stuck out his leg to trip the Crank and regretted it immediately. Pain flared up in his leg and he had to bite down to stop himself from screaming.

He fell backwards against the wall and tried to keep out of sight, putting as little pressure on his leg as possible. He reached up and rubbed the blood from his eyes to stop it dripping down his face. Chuck and Brenda were both carrying Alby further into the camp to keep him as far away from the gates as possible. Newt wanted to suggest they try and take him up to the top of the watchtower and out of the way but it was too risky.

Minho had come back and joined them at the gate, armed with another bat for himself and magazine full of bullets which he threw to Newt as he passed him. He caught it and took a few steps further into the camp so keep out of the way of the Cranks, Minho and Gally seemed to have them under control for now so he knew that he’d have time, if only a few seconds.

He pressed the small button by the trigger and released the magazine from the bottom of the gun and let it drop to the floor, taking the new one Minho had given him and pushed it firmly into the gun. He gripped the slide and pulled back, letting it fall back to its original position to load the gun properly. He looked up from his task just in time to see two Cranks right in front of him, reaching out for him with blood covered hands.

Taken off guard, Newt took a step backwards onto his bad leg and pain shot up from his ankle, causing him to stumble and fall onto the floor on his back. He reached out and shot at the Crank closest to him, hitting it square in the head. He tried to aim for the second one as the first Crank fell to the floor, landing hard across his legs.

He let out a shout of pain and the bullet that had been aimed at the Cranks head fell short, hitting it in the shoulder and only knocking it back a few paces. If he hadn’t seen the bullet hit then he’d be convinced that he’d missed his shot because the Crank just kept coming towards him.

The noise he’d made had brought the Cranks in his direction, away from Minho and Gally. With the herd no longer focused completely on them they were unable to stop them coming his way. He shot at the first Crank and it too fell to the ground, just shy of landing on his left leg.

Newt tried to pull himself out from under the dead Crank but it was no use, it was just too heavy and the pain in his leg only got worse if he tried to move. The pain was starting to make him feel dizzy and only one of the next three shots reached their targets, the other two barely slowing the herd down.

With his gun empty and his body trapped against the ground, Newt thought he was done for. He dropped the gun by his side and tried to force the Crank off his legs, pushing as hard as he could and pulling his legs back at the same time.

He managed to push the Crank over so it was laying on top of his good leg and immediately pulled his bad leg up towards his chest as a Crank reached out to grab it, trying to pull him in close. He felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped, trying desperately to move out of the way. The hand wrapped around his upper arm and pulled, freeing him from under the Cranks body.

He turned to see that it was Chuck, the boy had left Brenda and Alby at the back of the camp and was helping him up from the ground. As soon as he was able to stand he felt the blood rush from his head and his vision started to blur, he could just about make out the outlines of two people as they forced themselves through the crowd, slicing at the Cranks as they did. One of them was calling his name as they got closer.

“Newt!” He knew that voice, it was Thomas. He blinked hard a few times and forced himself to focus on where Thomas stood in front of him. He was forcing a sword into his hands and Newt gripped the handle tight. “Stay back here with Chuck, if they get through you attack. You got that?” Newt didn’t have chance to reply as Thomas ran back to the front of the camp, knife in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure I really like this chapter all that much but let me know what you think and if there's anything glaringly wrong with it please let me know so that I can fix it. But yeah, hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter should be up by next week (hopefully)


	4. I’m just so scared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Screams from behind him drew his attention away from the Gates to the shelter at the back of the camp. The two Crank’s he’d let past so he could help Gally had gotten inside the shelter and were leant over Jorge’s body, tearing at his flesh. Brenda was stood in the entrance to the shelter while Newt did his best to run over to the Cranks, his limp now more evident than ever. He swung the sword across and straight through the neck of the first Crank.

By the time Thomas and Teresa had made it back to the camp they knew they were in big trouble. A group of around fifty Cranks were pushing themselves through the gates of the camp and they knew there must be even more inside the walls.

With a quick glance over to Teresa to check she was okay Thomas pushed through the herd, ducking as a few of the Cranks reached out for him, and stumbled through the open gates. At first glance there seemed to be twenty or so Cranks inside the camp, most of the herd were moving to the right where Minho and Gally were fighting them off, a pile of dead Cranks forming at their feet.

He felt a hand on his back pushing him forward, he span round to see Teresa had joined him and was trying to get past him to join Minho and Gally. He moved further into the camp to let her past and his eyes wandered over to the left of the camp where Newt was trapped on the floor, Chuck trying to pull him free. He didn’t even think as he ran towards him, swiping blindly at any of the Cranks that got in his way.

“Newt!” He called out to try and get his attention, but Newt seemed to be a bit dazed, Chuck had managed to pull him up from the floor but he didn’t seem so have seen him yet. As soon as he reached Newt he pushed the hilt of the sword into his hands, knowing that if any weapon was going to keep Newt safe, it was that one. Newt blinked up at him a few times but a wave of recognition washed over his face and Thomas was able to relax a little when Newt gripped the sword tight in his hand.

As much as he wanted to stay and check to make sure Newt was okay he knew he couldn’t. The sounds of the Cranks were growing louder from behind him and he knew he needed to go and join the others at the front of the camp, it was the only way he could make sure everyone was safe.

“Stay back here with Chuck, if they get through you attack. You got that?” He gave Newt a quick once over to check for any major injuries and left him with Chuck without waiting for a reply. He’d be okay, he knew he would.

He grabbed the knife from its holster as he approached the herd, Minho, Gally and Teresa had the middle and the left of the herd covered so he moved over to the right, trying to help them force the Cranks back through the gates.

One of the things Thomas liked most about staying out in the forest was that the smell he could only describe as death would barely ever reach them this far from the city, but as the Cranks poured in in varying states of decomposition it was difficult to smell anything else.

The Crank that was closest to him only had one arm still connected, the other was cut off at the elbow from where he’d swung at it on the way into camp, he could even see it lying on the floor over by Teresa. Despite the loss of limbs the Crank seemed as determined as ever to kill him, reaching out with its only arm to grasp at his chest.

Thomas took a few steps forward and grabbed hold of the Cranks head, pushing the knife hard into its skull. Taking another few step’s he pushed it hard into the rest of the herd, kicking out with his foot to push it back further. As the Crank toppled it knocked down another two that were struggling to get past and pinned them to the floor, they tried to push themselves up but with little luck as the remaining Cranks walked over them to get into the camp.

Even as he killed five, six, seven more Cranks, adding them to the pile, they still kept coming. He was beginning to think it would never end. The pile of Cranks by the gates was starting to make it harder for the rest of the herd to get into the camp, but that wasn’t for a lack of trying.

He glanced over to the others to see that Gally had moved to stand with Teresa as the herd were starting to focus their energy on going straight through the middle of the camp. As Gally took a step back from a crank he stood on the arm Thomas had chopped off earlier and tripped, falling backwards onto the ground. Two Cranks immediately dropped down to the floor next to him, leaning over his body to snap at his face, trying to claw at his arms and throat. Gally grabbed the ends of his bat with both hands and pushed it upwards against their chests to keep them at arm’s length and stop them from getting too close.

“Teresa, a little help!” Teresa turned to try and help Gally but another Crank came at her and she had to fall back, leaving Gally to fend for himself.

Thomas cursed and turned back to his area, apart from two Cranks heading over towards the shelter it was starting to clear up, the Cranks having stopped trying to get over the pile of fallen bodies and focusing their efforts on the rest of the group.

He ran over to where Gally was and grabbed the back of one of the Cranks shirts, pulling it off of him and pushing his knife through the back of its head. He swung round, still holding onto the crank, and tried to use the motion to push it harder into the pack. He managed to knock down a Crank that was coming up behind Minho and knocked it on its front; it clawed at the ground, trying to drag it’s self along.

Gally had managed to push the other Crank of himself without the added weight of a second body and was slamming the bat hard onto its skull, caving it in and splashing blood onto his face. Thomas had to force himself to look away to stop from throwing up at the sight.

Screams from behind him drew his attention away from the Gates to the shelter at the back of the camp. The two Crank’s he’d let past so he could help Gally had gotten inside the shelter and were leant over Jorge’s body, tearing at his flesh. Brenda was stood in the entrance to the shelter while Newt did his best to run over to the Cranks, his limp now more evident than ever. He swung the sword across and straight through the neck of the first Crank.

Thomas felt something cold splash up the back of his neck and he turned back to the main herd just as a Crank fell towards him from where Gally had knocked it with the bat, he stepped to the side in time so as to not get knocked down.

He wanted to go back and help Newt but he knew that being at the Gates and stopping the camp from being overrun was the most useful thing he could be doing right now. Besides, Teresa was further back now, if there was anything that truly needed there help she’s be the first one over there.

As much as it pained him to know Newt was in pain and struggling to fight he knew he had to keep focused, so he fought on as best he could.

Minho and Gally were now stood on either side of him, the three of them attacking from the centre of the camp. With the three of them this close together the Cranks had more to focus on, more of them were turning towards them and ignoring the rest of the camp.

After what felt like a few minutes, it could have been more but Thomas wasn’t sure, it was all starting to blur into one, the Cranks stopped their onslaught of the camp and the only thing left to show their attack was a pile of dead bodies on the ground and the stench of rotting flesh filling the air. Thomas and Minho rushed forward to close the main gates, putting the wooden plank over the doors to keep out any more Cranks that could be out there still.

He leant back against the doors, dropping his knife to the floor and closing his eyes. It was over, they were safe. _No_ , he thought, _not safe, just in less danger._ Nowhere was ever truly safe anymore.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, letting the air out slowly he took a look around the camp. The pile of bodies was so large Thomas didn’t even want to try and count how many were there. One of the tents closest to the Gates, Jorge and Brenda’s tent he remembered, had been knocked down, a few dead bodies lay across the canvas. When he looked over at the shelter he saw Brenda hunched over Jorge’s body, Newt leant up against the table at the back, trying to keep his weight of his leg.

He pushed himself away from the wall and jogged over to the shelter, coming to a stop in front of Newt. He didn’t even seem to notice he was there. Newt’s eyes were fixed on where Jorge lay on the floor, what remained of him at least. Thomas put a hand on the side of Newt’s face, rubbing his thumb gently across his check.

“Newt? Newt, look at me.” Newt blinked and looked over at him. His face had gone paler than he’d ever seen it before, the flecks of blood across his cheeks only making it look worse.

“Tommy?”

“Yeah, it’s me. We’re okay. You’re okay. We’re going to be fine.” Newt suddenly sagged and Thomas had to put an arm around his waist to steady him, hold him upright. Newt let out a soft whimper and pressed his forehead against Thomas’ neck, Thomas leant his chin gently on Newts head, holding him close in a hug. “We’re okay now, I promise.” He hoped that if he said it enough times that he’d finally start to believe it.

* * *

**_8 Months Earlier:_ **

It was coming up to the end of their second semester of the year at Glade University and Thomas and Minho were out running laps on the outdoor running track. It had really started to heat up recently and Thomas could feel the sweat falling between his shoulder blades as he ran, trying to beat Minho to the end of the track.

This was how they liked to end every practice, a sprint round the circuit to try and see who was fastest. Minho would nearly almost win, but today Thomas was feeling confident that this time he might just be able to beat him.

Thomas had met Minho last year when they’d both joined the track team their first year and he’d hated him. Thought he was really arrogant and self-absorbed; he liked to pretend the fact that he was faster than him had nothing to do with it.

After weeks of ignoring the rest of the team and only concentrating on trying to outdo the other they were made co-captains of the team and they decided that they needed to just sort out their differences and work together instead of against each other. It turned out that when they actually got to know one another they had loads in common and they became good friends, fast.

Minho had introduced him to his friends Alby and Newt at the end of one of their track meets; Alby had seemed really intimidating at the time, but Thomas was too confused to worry about that because he was suddenly really aware of the fact that he was covered in sweat and he kept blushing when he looked over at the two of them and he had no idea why.

It didn’t take him long to figure out it was just Newt that made him act like that. Minho spent months teasing him about his infatuation with the other boy and would constantly try and reassure him that he was almost certain Newt felt the same way. It took until the end of their first year, when they were both a little bit drunk and Thomas couldn’t stop himself talking about how Newt’s eyes sparkled in the sun that they first got together. It was sloppy and quick and if they were honest with themselves, neither of them could really remember how it happened, but it had been everything Thomas had hoped for and they’d been together ever since.

As Thomas and Minho rounded the last corner of the track Thomas picked up the pace, edging just in front of him; they’d been neck and neck the whole way round but he could still feel Minho breathing down his neck, he was still too close.

“Go, Thomas!” A voice shouted out from the edge of the track, Thomas risked looking over to see who it was.

Newt was stood a few feet away from the finish line of the track with Alby, who looked unamused with the whole thing. Thomas smiled, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks. He turned back to the track but overstepped and tripped, falling to the left and straight into Minho’s path, knocking him over onto the grass in the middle of the track. Thomas landed hard on the track, scraping his knees across the ground as he came to a stop.

“Nice one, Thomas.” He rolled onto his back and leant over to hit Minho on the chest.

“Shut it, shank. I almost had you.” Minho laughed and sat up, patting him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, the operative word being _almost._ ” He glared up at him but his attention was pulled elsewhere as Newt came into his line of vision. He could see that he was trying hard to keep a smile off his face as he crouched down next to him and reached out for his hand. Thomas took it and stood up from the track with Newts help.

“Come on, just say it.” He dropped his grip on Newts hand and reached up to wipe some of the sweat from his forehead. “I know you want to.” A smile suddenly spread across Newt’s face as he spoke.

“That was so smooth, Tommy. The way you were able to glide along the floor, just beautiful.” Newt laughed and took a step back as Thomas aimed a punch on his arm, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m done, I’m done.” Alby came over and joined them, passing both Minho and Thomas a bottle of water which Thomas took gladly, gulping down half of it whereas Minho chose to pour most of it over his head.

“If you hadn’t have tripped, spectacularly might I add,” Thomas aimed a glare at Alby but he just ignored him. “You actually looked like you’d beat him this time.”

“See, told you.” Newt had moved so that he was now stood between him and Minho, arms folded across his chest.

“Minho losing a race, that’s something I’d love to see.” Minho decided to take that moment to quickly shake his head, spraying water everywhere. Newt made a small sound of surprise and fell back against Thomas who wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him back against his chest. Newt reached up and wiped the water off his face, his nose scrunched up in disgust.

“I don’t know what’s worse, having Minho’s buggin’ hair water all over me or having your sweat all up my back.” Thomas wrapped his other arm around Newts waist and pulled him tighter to his chest.

“Didn’t hear you complaining about it the other night.” Newt let out a snort at that and Thomas turned to see the shock on Minho’s face.

“See this is what I mean when I say you share too much, Thomas. Seriously, I could have lived without ever knowing that.” Thomas laughed and loosened his grip on Newt, moving to stand with an arm resting loosely around his waist.

“What, so you’re allowed to talk about all the people you’ve slept with but when I do it’s ‘sharing too much’?” Minho nodded, pulling up the bottom of his shirt to rub the water off his face.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Thomas rolled his eyes and took another drink from the water Alby had brought him as the group made their way over to the stands next to the tracks where Newt and Alby had been sat before.

The walk over made him realised that his knees actually kind of hurt from the fall but he wasn’t about to say anything with Minho around, he’d only make fun of him for it. With Thomas, Newt and Alby all sat on the bottom bench of the stands, Minho took his place in front of the three of them.

“So I have an idea.”

“No, Min.” Newt spoke up from his left, “We’ve told you before, we don’t want to have a threesome with you.” Thomas smiled at the look of exasperation on Minho’s face.

“Slim it, Isaac.” Newt sunk down at the use of his real name, glaring at Minho. “I was actually thinking that over spring break we should go camping.” Thomas frowned at that, since when had Minho ever expressed any love of the outdoors?

“I don’t know man, my sisters coming back home from New York to visit for the week, I haven’t seen her since we started back last year.”

“So bring Teresa with you then, the more the merrier.” He figured it wouldn’t be too hard to convince Teresa to come along, she’d been in the city for so long that she’d probably love to spend a week out in the woods and besides, she’d been bugging him about actually getting to meet his friends for months now.

“Okay then, I’m in.” Minho grinned.

“Yes! One down, two to go. Alby, you’re in right?” Alby loved nature and went camping all the time with his family, so he didn’t really need all that much convincing.

“As long as it doesn’t end up just being the two of us then yeah, I’m in.” Minho gasped over dramatically and put a hand on his chest, trying to look as hurt as he could.

“What’s so bad about staying with me for a week?” Alby opened his mouth to reply with what Thomas figured was probably going to be a long answer, but Minho held up a hand to cut him off. “Wait, don’t answer that.” Minho turned to Newt next. He didn’t look to keen on the idea.

“Newt. Newton. You know you want to come out into the woods with us. Sleep under the stars, cook food over a fire, it’ll be fun come on, please?”

“I don’t know, I have a big exam coming up, I need to start revising for it.” Minho crouched down on the floor in front of Newt, looking up at him with the best version of puppy dog eyes that he could muster.

“Come on, a week’s not going to hurt you. I’ll even quiz you on psychics and stuff.”

“It’s psychology.” Minho rolled his eyes.

“Whatever. Are you in?” Newt looked over at Thomas, he gave Newt a nod and a small smile, causing him to sigh and look back at Minho with a slightly more enthusiastic expression on his face.

“Okay fine, I’ll go. But if any of you wake me up before I’m ready, I swear I’ll cook _you_ over the fire.”

* * *

Newt couldn’t believe what had happened. Over the last two days their whole way of living had been turned upside-down. They’d lost their first camp member, their home had been overridden by the biggest herd of Cranks he’d ever seen and now it was looking like they were going to have to leave.

Newt was terrified at the prospect of moving away from their camp, for the last seven months they’d stayed at this spot in the woods with relatively few problems, only the occasional Crank run in when they went out into the city. But now the whole camp was covered in the dead bodies of the fallen Cranks and the prospect of staying didn’t seem like a good idea to any of them.

Thomas had taken him into their tent so that he could take a look at his leg and they could pack up their things. The contents of their box, the clothes they’d taken with them and a few other things they’d collected like bottles of water and a disposable camera, had all been put into the two rucksacks they’d brought all those months ago.

Newt was sat onto of one of the sleeping bags, leaning up against the now empty box with his foot resting on Thomas’s lap. He winced as Thomas pressed gently on the skin of his ankle.

“Sorry.” Thomas let go of his foot and reached into one of the bags, pulling out the bottle of pain medication. He opened the lid, poured two out into his hand and passed them over to Newt. Newt wanted to protest, say that they needed to save them for when Alby woke up. But they had three bottles now and his leg really did hurt so he took the pills without question and swallowed them down with a drink from one of the water bottles at his side.

“Thank you.” Thomas gave him a small smile but didn’t look away from his ankle. Newt had gotten used to the fact that his ankle was, more often than not, a bit swollen but right now was the worst it had been since the accident.

“What happened?” Thomas was looking back at him now, he was still looking at him as if he was going to break any minute. “How did they get in?”

“They were following Minho and Alby, we heard a scream from outside the walls and opened the gate so Minho could go and help you and Teresa.” Looking back on it now Newt knew they should have been more careful, should have insisted Gally stay up in the watchtower to look out for the herds. “We hadn’t realised how close they were in the chaos of everything that was happening, what with Alby having knocked himself out and all. There was no one in the watchtower so we didn’t know how close they’d gotten.” Thomas frowned at that.

“But I thought Gally was up there?” Newt shook his head.

“He came down to help with Alby as soon as they got back, by the time we opened the gates they were right on us and there wasn’t much we could do to push them back.” The sound of the tent unzipping drew Newt’s attention to the front of the tent and away from Thomas. Teresa was pushing back the door and stepping in, carrying her own bag with her. In her hand she had a roll of elasticated bandages.

“I found these when we were in the Pharmacy yesterday, I meant to give them to you earlier but with everything going on I just forgot.” She glanced down at Newt’s ankle before she looked down at him. “I figured now’s as good a time as any to give them to you.” She threw them to Thomas who caught them before the hit the ground.

“Thanks, T.” Teresa shrugged and sat down on the ground next to Newt.

“No problem.” She nudged Newt’s shoulder gently. “How are you holding up?”

“I feel less like I’m going to throw up now, if that’s what you mean.” Teresa smiled, looking down at her hands in her lap where she was picking at her nails. “How’s Brenda?” She let out a sigh, shaking her head.

“Not so good, we can’t get her to leave Jorge’s side.” Newt screwed up his face in pain as Thomas picked up his ankle to start wrapping the bandaging around it, he glanced up at Newt, mouthing ‘sorry’. Newt shook his head, giving him a small smile to show him it was okay. “Chuck is sat with Alby over by the back fence, Minho and Gally are moving the Cranks away from the gate, give us a clear way out.”

“How is Alby? I haven’t had chance to go check on him yet.”

“I’ve cleaned up the wound on his head, turns out it was pretty small, just bled a whole lot.” She smiled and looked back up at him. “The idiot needs to be more careful, watch where he’s going.” Newt let out a small laugh at that, but winced again as Thomas put his foot back down on his lap. The bandages were now wrapped around his foot and up his ankle, held together with one of the safety pins they’d been using to keep a hole in their tent closed.

“Thanks, Tommy. You too, ‘Resa.” Teresa smiled and leant in to kiss his cheek.

“No problem Newt.” She got up from the floor and walked back over to the front of the tent, ruffling Thomas’s hair as she went past. He reached up to swat her hand out the way and she laughed. “Anything I can do to help, let me know. I’ll be up front with Minho and Gally, we could really use your help soon Tom, if you’re up to it?” Thomas nodded, Newt moved his leg so that it was resting on the floor instead of on Thomas’ lap.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.” Teresa pushed back the fabric of the tent door and left them alone again, now bothering to zip it back up. Newt reached out for Thomas’ hand as soon as she’d gone and pulled him closer to him, Thomas shuffled over until he was knelt over his lap, his legs on either side of Newt thighs. He had both hands on Newts face, his fingers brushing the ends of his hair. Newt put his arms round Thomas’ hips, pulling him as close as he could.

Having Thomas around was one of the only things that made him truly happy anymore. Waking up every day by his side and falling asleep every night with his head resting against his chest made him remember he wasn’t alone.

The smell of blood was much stronger when they were this close together, but as Thomas leant down to capture Newt’s lips in a kiss and his slid shut, he couldn’t really bring himself to care. His lips were chapped from the cold and the box was digging into his back but the rush of heat that filled him as Thomas’ tongue brushed across his bottom lip was enough to make him forget about the pain, just for a bit.

Newt let out a soft moan as Thomas pressed down against him, biting gently on Newts lower lip. He slipped his hands up under Thomas’ shirt, running his fingers over his hips and up his chest. Newt tilted his head to the side as Thomas pressed a kiss to the side of his neck, biting at the pressure point near his collar bone as Newt dug his fingers into the skin around Thomas’ rib cage in shock, letting out a small gasp.

One on Thomas’ hands had made its way up Newt’s shirt, trailing his fingers over one of the scars across his rib cage, the cold touch made Newt shiver and moved his hands to grip Thomas’ hips.

Thomas leant back and Newt missed the warmth that went with the loss of his touch, he tried to follow him but Thomas pushed back gently at his chest so that he stayed where he was.

Thomas sat back so that he was sitting gently on Newt’s thighs, he pushed Newts shirt up so that the scar was visible and ran the length of it with his fingers from end to end. Newt watched as Thomas’ eyes trailed down his chest to the bruising on his stomach and above his hip bone, he dropped the end of the shirt to place his hand gently over it, spreading his fingers out over the yellowing marks. Newt watched him intently, wandering what was going on in his head. He was rarely ever this focused.

“Tommy? You okay?” Thomas nodded, moving to run his hands up Newts chest over his shirt so that they were resting on his shoulders. He ran his fingers through the hair at the back of Newts head.

“It just scares me.” Newt frowned, reaching up to wrap his fingers around Thomas’ wrist, pulling gently until Thomas moved from the grip to tangle their fingers together.

“What does?”

“The thought of something terrible happening to you.” This was a conversation they’d had countless times since the start, but it still made Newt’s chest fill with warmth at the thought that someone cared about him that much that the thought of losing him truly scared them.

“Nothing bad is going to happen to me, not with you around. Not with the rest of the group all having each other’s backs.” Thomas sighed and pressed another kiss to Newt’s lips pulling back only to rest his head against Newts shoulder, his free hand resting against Newt’s chest.

“I love you, you know that, right?” Newt smiled, holding Thomas close against his chest.

“I love you too, Tommy.”

* * *

By the time the two of them made it out of the tent, the pain medication had started to kick in and Newt was able to walk on his foot with only a dull ache up the back of his leg.

Thomas dropped off their bags over by the shelter with the rest of the camps supplies and joined Minho, Gally and Teresa over by the gates to help shift the bodies out of the way and onto the growing pile behind the watchtower. Newt knew that he wasn’t going to be much help so he went to go and see how Alby was holding up.

Someone must have convinced Brenda that it was okay to leave Jorge alone, because she wasn’t in the shelter anymore. Newt figured she was either in her tent or up in the watchtower, but he wasn’t really all that bothered about her whereabouts at the minute.

Chuck had pulled a log from the fire over to the back wall so that he could sit with Alby and wait for him to wake up, he’d even brought over one of the blankets to drape over his body to keep him warm. Newt sat down beside him on the log, glad to have a reason to keep the weight off his foot.

Alby was leant up against the wooden planks that made up this part of the wall, just where it started to join the wire meshing that ran for a few metres along the back. Newt never liked to stay around here too long because being able to see out into the rest of the woods always made him a bit nervous, and today was no different.

“How’re you holding up?” Newt looked over at Chuck to find the younger boy staring up at him. Newt was always surprised by Chucks’ attitude to everything, he was always trying to make other people feel better before even thinking about himself.

“I’m fine, Chuck. Just got to stop running around so much is all.” Chuck nodded and turned back towards Alby, resting his head in his hands, his elbows propped up on his knees. A loud rumble sounded and Chuck looked down at his stomach in annoyance. “When was the last time you ate?”

“Last night, I think.”

“Go get yourself some food from the supplies tent, I can watch Alby for a bit.” Chuck perked up a bit, but didn’t look like he wanted to leave Alby. “Chuck, you’re obviously hungry. Go get something to eat, he’s still going to be here when you get back.” Chuck still looked a bit conflicted, but another grumble from his stomach made his mind up for him and he ran off towards the tent in search of some food.

Now that he finally had time to sit down and think about, he was really worried about Alby. If he’d only hit his head and had a concussion he probably wouldn’t be fretting about it, but he’d knocked himself out for what was encroaching on a hour how and he wasn’t showing any signs of waking up any time soon.

Newt had been friends with Alby for nearly two years now, he’d been the first person to talk to him when he joined Glade University. He’d been really worried about coming over to live in America and leave all his old friends behind, but his mum had gotten a job in New York so they’d had to move. Glade was over three hours away from New York so not only was he starting a new school without knowing anyone there, he was in a whole new continent and his family were miles away from him.

Alby had been assigned the room across from him in the student accommodation building and had offered to show him around the city since he’d lived there his whole life. Despite not seeming to have much in common the two of them had gotten on quite well, he’d even introduced him to his friend from high school, Minho and the three of them had become close friends in the following months.

Newt missed the old days. Back when Minho was a lot more fun to be around, always making jokes and messing around. Now he was very stern and quiet, only voicing his opinion where he felt it was needed. Even Alby had changed, taking charge of the camp as the oldest amongst them, acting more like their parent rather than their friend.

He couldn’t blame them though, they’d all lost a lot when the disease hit and they didn’t have someone around to help keep them grounded, at least not like what he had with Thomas.

“Newt!” He turned around on the log when he heard his name being called from the other side of camp. Teresa was waving him over from where she was stood by the gates. He got up from his seat on the log and made his way over to the log, his limp was worse than ever now that he’d aggravated the injury.

“What is it?” Teresa had moved the pile of bags from the shelter over to the gate, she had one on her back and was carrying two others.

“Can you watch the gate while I go put these in the truck? Brenda says it’s all clear on this end, she’s going to keep watch from up in the tower.”

“Then what do you need me for?” She reached into one of her pockets, fishing out the trucks keys. The truck was Minho’s, they’d driven up to the woods in it for their camping trip and parked it by the edge of the tree line. After everything happened they decided having it close by would be more useful and it was now parked up just outside the camp walls.

“I need you to keep the doors locked behind me, only open them up when I get back. We don’t need any more Cranks getting in.” Newt didn’t like the sound of that, of Teresa going out there alone but everyone else was busy and he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to make the trip there and back fast enough.

“Okay, just hurry.” Teresa nodded as he took the wooden plank away from the gates and she pushed one open, running off towards the truck. He pulled it shut again and held it closed, not wanting to waste time in locking it again since she wasn’t going to be gone for more than a few minutes.

Minho, Thomas and Gally were almost done moving all the cranks into a pile. All three of them were covered in blood and the occasional piece of flesh hung of their clothing. The smell from the bodies was getting worse and was starting to make Newt feel a bit ill, it was the only thing that made him glad they were going to be leaving the camp soon.

A knock on the door a few minutes later alerted him to Teresa’s return. He opened the door and she came back into camp, a little out of breath. She picked up another bag only stopping to talk a quick look around camp. As soon as she looked over to where Alby was sat her eyes widened and she dropped the bag.

“ALBY!” She scream ripped out of her throat and she tore across the camp, running towards him. Newt only had seconds to register what was happening before he too was running as fast as he could to the other side of the camp.

A group of three Cranks were pressed up against the mesh of the wall, their hands reaching through the gaps in the wiring to reach out for Alby. He could hear Thomas calling for him from the front of the camp but he didn’t listen, ignoring him and the pain in his leg as he ran towards his friend.

One of the cranks had managed to push its arm all the way through the hole in the mesh, getting a piece of skin caught on an exposed piece of wire and ripping it off, exposing the bone, blood rushing out of the wound. It dug its fingers hard into the front of Alby’s throat, enough to break the skin and for blood to pour down Alby’s chest causing his eyes to suddenly open from the pain.

“ALBY, NO!” Newt screamed out for his friend as Teresa made it to the Crank, just as it pulled at the skin of Alby neck, tearing it away. She stabbed her knife deep into cranks skull and tried to push it away from the wall but it was too late.

Alby was gasping for air, covering the wound with his hand. Newt dropped to the floor next to him, tears already pouring down his face and helping his lie down on the ground away from the wall, putting pressure over Alby’s hand to try and stop the flow of blood.

“Alby… you’re gonna be okay… it’s…” He didn’t know what to say, his voice chocking up from crying. Alby reached up for him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, eyes wide with panic. Newt looked round him and saw that the rest of the camp were stood in an arc surrounding them, Teresa knelt by Alby’s feet.

“Somebody help me! We need… We need to do something.” But no one was listening to him, Gally was holding Brenda against his chest as she cried, trying to comfort her. Chuck was hiding behind Minho, his face pressed into the side of his shirt so that he didn’t have to watch, Minho’s arm around his shoulders. Thomas was stood behind him, he reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Please Tommy, we’ve got to do something.” Alby’s hand was loosening its hold on Newt’s shirt so he grabbed hold of it with his free hand, squeezing it tight.

“New-..” Alby tried to speak, but as he did he started to cough up a steady stream of blood.

“I’m here. It’s… its okay.” Alby was staring up at him now, he let out one last breath as his hand went limp in Newt’s grasp. Newt just held on tighter. “No… No please.” A sobbed ripped through him and he fell across Alby’s chest, shaking with the tears.

His best friend was gone and it was all his fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like Alby, I am very sorry. If not then I hope you feel sad for him anyway.  
> As always your thoughts are greatly appreciated, even if you want to tell me how crap it was


	5. We leave it all behind us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You can’t just leave us out here to die.” A short laugh escaped her lips and her face lit up in a grin.   
> “That’s exactly what we’re doing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really not a fan of this chapter, so I may edit it some more and re-post it later but I wanted to get something up this weekend so here it is.

Newt refused to leave Alby’s side, no matter how many times the group tried to convince him too. It had been twenty minutes and most of the group had left him alone, only Thomas and Minho were still there. Thomas was sat down on the floor next to him and Minho stood watching outside of the fencing to make sure no more Cranks were coming their way.

He’d stopped crying a while ago, realising that wasting his energy on tears wasn’t going to bring Alby back, nothing would. Instead he waited; waited for Alby to wake up again.

He was covered in Alby’s blood, it was all down his shirt and he could feel it drying on his face and down his neck. The worst of it was on his hands, from where he’d tried to stop the bleeding only for it to seep out through the gaps in his fingers.

Loosing Alby was never something he’d even imagined. Being in the camp had given him a false sense of security, that when they were all together that nothing was going to hurt them, that they were going to be safe. But Alby was lying dead at his side, his blood literally on his hands, and he knew that that wasn’t true anymore. They weren’t safe. They were never going to be safe.

“Newt, we need to get moving.” Newt ignored Thomas, just stared straight ahead at Alby’s body, holding the knife in his hands. Thomas sighed and put his hand on Newt’s leg. “Please, Newt.”

“Get off me.” Newt answered, not looking away from Alby. Thomas pulled his hand away but stayed where he was on the ground next to him. Minho turned and leant back against the wooden section of the wall, arms crossed against his chest.

“Waiting to kill him isn’t going to make killing him any easier.”

“I’ve already gotten him killed Minho, this is just making sure he doesn’t get to turn.” Minho crouched down in front of him, reaching his hand out for the knife.

“Well if you’re not going to do it, I will. You know what Alby wanted, Newt.” He was right, Newt did know what Alby wanted. He wanted to be out down before he was able to turn, he didn’t want to be able to hurt anyone. Newt shook his head.

“I need to do this myself.” He looked up at Minho when he didn’t retract his hand. “So just back off, would you?”

“Whatever.” Minho sighed and stood up. “Just get it over with.” He walked away from the two of them to join the rest of the group over at the gates.

Newt looked down at the knife in his hands, he knew he had to do it soon or Alby would wake up. No. Not Alby, something else in Alby’s body. He leant up so that he was on his knees and held to knife next to Alby’s head.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“Thomas, please don’t.”

“No I mean it, we could just tie him up or something, that way he wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone.” Newt turned to look at him, pointing the knife at him as he spoke.

“Firstly, Alby told us that if he was even infected that we had to kill him before he turned. You know that, so why you’re even suggesting that I have no buggin’ idea.” He dropped the knife to his side when he saw the nervous expression on Thomas’ face. “Secondly, it’s my fault Alby’s dead.” Thomas frowned.

“How is it-?”

“Shut up, Thomas. For once in your life, just shut up.” Thomas sagged a bit but kept his mouth shut. Newt continued.

“I left him here by himself, knowing full well he needed watching. I went over to the _other side of the camp_ whilst he was sitting here unconscious. If I actually did what I was told to do, I actually did the only thing I can do anymore, he wouldn’t be dead.”

Thomas opened his mouth to speak but Newt just carried on over him. “I swear to god if you say it wasn’t my fault I’ll let Alby turn and bite you.” He didn’t know why he said, he sure as hell didn’t mean it, but he couldn’t help it. Taking his anger out on other people was always something that made him feel a bit better. That, combined with the fact that he also blamed the rest of the camp for not keeping a closer eye on Alby, meant that his anger at Thomas especially didn’t really surprise him all that much.

“Blaming yourself isn’t going to make him not dead anymore, you know that, right?” Newt tried to clamp down the anger that was threatening to boil over.

“Of course I shucking know that Thomas, how stupid do you think I am?”

“I don’t think you’re stupid, I’m just trying to help.” He scoffed, looking back down at the knife in his hands.

“Yeah? Well you’re doing a bloody terrible job at showing it.” A loud groaning sounded from in front of them and Newt turned to see a crank walking towards them past the fence. He glanced back down at Alby to see if he’d come back yet, but he was still laying there, he blood pooling around his throat. He stood up, stepped over Alby and stood next to the fence. He shook it, trying to get the crank to move faster.

“Come on you ugly git, get over here!” He knew shouting at it wasn’t going to help the situation any, but he did t anyway. He was getting to the point when he as past caring. The crank heard him and started to reach out towards him, moving faster towards the fence.

It snapped its jaws as it pressed against the fence, trying to get through. Newt took a few seconds to think about how stupid the Cranks really were before he slipped the knife through a gap in the fencing and pushed it straight through the Cranks eye socket. It sagged against the fence and Newt pulled the knife out, letting it fall down to the ground.

“Newt? You need to-” Newt was too frustrated to even turn and look at him, he just stared out into the forest.

“I don’t _need_ to do anything. Don’t you dare tell me to-”

“Newt, seriously you need to…” The rest of Thomas’ words were drowned out as he felt a hand wrap around his ankle and pull. He slipped, falling onto his knee and dropped the knife.

Alby has come back. He’d waited too long and Alby had come back.

He pulled his leg back and tried to get out of Alby’s grip and reached out for the knife that was on the ground next to Thomas. He watched as Thomas leant over to grab the knife, Newt tried to pull his leg free to stop him but he just couldn’t find the strength to do it. Thomas leant over Alby’s body and pushed the knife hard into the top of his skull.

The grip on Newt’s leg suddenly loosened and as Thomas pulled the knife out and dropped it to the ground, Alby fell to the side against the wall.

He was gone, this time for good and Newt hadn’t been the one to do it.

* * *

**7 months and two weeks earlier**

Thomas had found convincing Teresa to go on the camping trip with them a lot easier than he’d thought. Their parents hadn’t been too happy about it at first, wanting to spend some time with them over the break but they’d managed to convince them it was a good idea, saying they’d only be gone for a week and they still had the rest of break to catch up.

So the two of them were stood out on the pavement outside their house, a backpack each and a tent bag between them, waiting for Minho to show up to take them to where they were going.

“So who’s going again?” They’d been over this about ten times, but Teresa wanted to be sure she wouldn’t get any of his friend’s names wrong when they turned up.

“Minho, Alby and Newt.”

“Right, and you’re dating Newt?” Thomas nodded his agreement. “Pretty interesting name.”

“Yeah well, he’s a pretty interesting guy.” Teresa laughed, a big smile on her face. Thomas felt his face heating up as he blushed.

“Aw, you’re adorable.” Thomas reached over and hit her on the arm, but that didn’t wipe the smile off her face. “I’m really excited to meet him, he seems like he makes you really happy.” Thomas smiled, looking down at his hands.

“Yeah, T. He really does.” Teresa went to ask him another question but there was a loud honking coming from down the road. They both turned as a bright orange pickup truck turned round the corner and came to a stop outside the house. Alby rolled down the window from the passenger seat and Minho leaned across him to shout out the window.

“You two ready for the best week of your lives?” Teresa shrugged, a small smile on her face as she helped Thomas to pick up the tent.

“Ready as we’ll ever be.” The two of them carried to tent over to the back of the truck, lifting it over the side and putting it into the back with the rest of the things the boys had brought with them. Thomas opened the back door and waited for Teresa to climb it, once she was in the truck he climbed in after her, took his seat and shut the door.  He decided now was as good a time as any to introduce everyone.

“Guys, this is my sister, Teresa.” Teresa held up a hand in small wave at the three of them. “Teresa, this is-” Teresa held up a hand to stop him.

“Wait no I want to guess, I’m pretty sure I know.” Thomas leant back in his seat, nodding at her to go for it. “Okay, right.” She pointed at the two in the front of the truck, they’d both turned round in their seats to face them. “You guys are Alby and Minho? I’m going to guess you’re Alby,” Teresa dropped the hand that was pointing at Minho so she was pointing straight at Alby. “Which would make you Minho then?” Minho nodded and held out a hand.

“Pleased to make you acquaintance.” Teresa let out a short laugh and shook his hand. She turned in her seat so she was facing Newt next.

“So that would have to make you Newt then.”

“That would be me.” Teresa’s eyes widened slightly and she turned back to Thomas, hitting him on the chest.

“Hey! What was that for?” He rubbed at his chest, surprised at how hard Teresa had hit him.

“You never told me he was British!” Thomas looked past her to see that Newt looked confused, but he was laughing along with the rest of them.

“It didn’t think it was really that important.” Minho spoke up from the front of the truck.

“If it makes you feel any better, Thomas didn’t tell us you were so hot either.” Thomas snapped his gaze over to Minho and glared at him.

“Min, no!” Minho shrugged, a smug smile on his face.

“What? It’s true.” Thomas groaned and slumped down in his seat.

“Can we please just go?” Minho laughed as he started the engine and they set off towards the forest.

* * *

Newt wasn’t talking to him and he hated it.

Logically he knew it was because he’d killed Alby, but it still hurt to see him act like this. He’d tried to help him up off the ground after Alby had pulled him down, but he’d pushed him away, telling him to just leave him alone. So he had.

He didn’t want to make Newt anymore upset than he already was, but it was hard. After everything that had happened, all he wanted to do was hold Newt in his arms and tell him that everything was going to be okay, that they were going to leave and find a new place to stay. A safer place. But he couldn’t. Every time he’d get close to him Newt would just turn away, blocking him out.

So he busied himself with helping Minho and Teresa to pack up the rest of the truck. It took them two trips from the camp to the truck to get it all in, but by the time they were done the camp had been wiped clean and he couldn’t help but feel sad about it. This had been their home for the last eight months and now they were going to have to leave it all behind.

Newt was stood over by the shelter, where the only thing left was the map they’d tried to construct of the area around them. He was leant with most of his weight against the makeshift table in front of him so that he could have his foot off the ground. Thomas followed Minho over to the shelter but stopped a few paces away from them, not knowing how Newt would react to him at the minute.

“See anywhere that might work as an overnight camp?” Minho asked and Newt nodded, tapping an area of the map that showed the main road leading off to the left, away from the city.

“Remember the camping ground a few miles this way?” Thomas moved closer to the two of them so that he could get a better look at the map.

“You mean the one we couldn’t get into?” Newt carried on as if he hadn’t even said anything.

“That one we couldn’t get into, so we came out here instead. I recon we check there, see if there’s anywhere we can get inside, blockade the exits and stay for the night.” Minho folded his arms across his chest considering it.

“Sounds like a plan to me, can’t think of anywhere else that might work.” Minho reached up and pulled the map off the wall, ripping it bit in the corner. He rolled it up into a jump and stuffed it into his bag, zipped it up and put the bag on his back.

“I’ll go let the rest of the guys know the route.” He left the shelter and went to go join the rest of the camp over by the gates. Newt went to follow him but Thomas stepped into his path; Newt stopped but didn’t look at him.

“Let me go, Thomas.” Thomas shook his head, standing his ground.

“Not until you talk to me.” Newt looked up at him, expression blank.

“What makes you think I want to talk to you?” Newt sighed and tried to move past him, Thomas reached out and wrapped his fingers round Newt’s wrist. “Tommy, just-”

“You’re pissed at me, I get that. But at least let me help you too the truck.” Newt looked like he wanted to protest. “I know you’re in pain Newt, please don’t pretend you’re not.” Newt stared at him for a few seconds, but eventually he nodded and allowed Thomas to wrap an arm around his waist. Newt put his arm around Thomas’ shoulder and the two of them slowly made their way over to the gates, leaving the empty campsite behind them.

* * *

**7 months and two weeks earlier**

By the time they’d been on the road for a while everyone was getting along great. Minho and Alby had been arguing about the directions most of the way there, Alby had a terrible sense of direction but he liked to think he knew where he was going. But even despite of that, Teresa had managed to fit in really well with the group and Thomas could see that the nerves she’d had about staying with a group of people she’d never met were starting to fade away.

Thomas had been most worried about Teresa meeting Newt. He was Thomas’ first real boyfriend and he’d been worried how Teresa was going to react. Logically he’d know that she was okay with it, she’d been really excited when he’d told her about it over the phone but the fear that she’d hate Newt was still there. He didn’t have anything to worry about though because the two of them had gotten along really well, talking throughout the whole trip. Teresa was telling Newt all about her life in New York and embarrassing stories about her and Thomas when they were kids and in return, Newt had told her about England and where he’d grown up.

The truck came to a sudden stop as someone walked out across the road straight in front of them. Minho pressed down on the horn hard, the sound drawing the person’s attention to the truck. The first thing Thomas noticed about the man was how pale his skin was, how ill he seemed. His eyes were all bloodshot and he had his head tilted to the side, watching them.

When he didn’t move after a few seconds Minho blasted the horn again, which seemed to get their attention. They man blinked a few times, shaking his head, some colour coming back to his cheeks. He seemed to realise where he was standing and held up a hand in apology, moving out the way of the road. Minho started the gas again and they were off, moving back in the direction of the woods, he glanced over at Alby, a frown on his face.

“What the hell was up with that guy? He looked like death.” Alby shrugged, watching the road go by out his window.

“I have no idea, but my mum was like that this morning too.” Teresa leant forward between the gap in the two front seats, leaning her arms on her knees.

“What, your mum looked like she wanted to kill you?” Alby looked back a Teresa, his eyebrows raised.

“What? No, she just looked really ill, the same thing was going on with her eyes too.”

“Maybe it’s just a new illness.” Newt added. “You know, the ones that only last a couple days but are never really that bad.” Thomas could see Minho nodding from his seat in the front of the truck

“You’re probably right. Let’s just hope none of us get it, if I wake up to one of you guys looking like that, I might just shit myself.” Thomas snorted.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Minho grabbed an empty bottle of water from the drinks holder and threw it at Thomas’ head, the group erupting with laughter.

“Slim it, Thomas. You’re not as funny as you think you are.” Thomas was tempted to throw the bottle back at him, but he didn’t want to interrupt Minho from driving, that could only end badly.

“I think he’s plenty funny.” Newt spoke up from the other side of the truck.

“Yeah, you’re the only one who does.” Thomas ignored Minho, reaching out behind Teresa to hold Newt’s hand and squeeze in gently with his fingers.

The man was forgotten for the rest of the trip.

* * *

Sitting in the back of the truck wasn’t ideal, but being the last two to make it to the truck gave them no choice. As they sped off down the road, the cold air whipping around them, Thomas couldn’t help but wish Newt would come and sit closer to him so that he could hold him in his arms for warmth. But as it was, Newt sat opposite him, watching the road disappear behind them, acting like he didn’t even exist.

They’d been on the road no longer than twenty minutes when the truck stopped with a jolt.

Thomas had to hold on to the edge of the truck to stop himself from falling out. He looked over at Newt to see if he was okay but he was still ignoring him, looking through the window at the back of the truck to see what was going on. Thomas leant over the edge of the truck and was about to call out to Minho when he saw why they’d stopped.

On the road in front of them were two cars and a tank, blocking their path. In front of the three vehicles stood a group of people, dressed head to toe in riot gear, each holding a gun that was being pointed at the truck. They looked like they must have been in the army or police force back before the virus hit.

Thomas quickly leant back so that he couldn’t be seen by the new group of people and joined Newt in watching through the window. Minho and Teresa were talking in the front but Thomas couldn’t make out what they were saying, the sound blocked out by the glass, but they both seemed to look quite calm despite the situation. Suddenly Minho opened the door and all three of the new people span round to point the gun at where Minho had started to get out of the truck.

“Get back in your vehicle sir,” One of the people shouted over, a man from the sounds of it. “Or we’ll shoot.” Minho raised his hands and sat back in the driver’s seat, not taking his eyes off the group. The group split up, two of them heading round to the right of the truck and the other to the left. As they got closer Thomas could see that it was two men and a woman; all three of them were of a similar height but apart from that it was difficult to tell what they looked like because their body armour nearly covered them entirely. All he could see was that the woman had long, blonde hair done up in a plait down her back and one of the men had a tear in the left leg of his clothing.

It was the woman who ended up stood at Minho’s door, pointed the gun at his forehead. One of the men had stopped by Teresa’s door and had pulled it open and he too had a gun pointed at her. The last of the group had gone round the back of the truck and started looking through their stuff.

“Hey!” Newt had turned so that he was facing the guy, “What the hell do you think you’re-” He stopped when a gun was pointed at his face.

“We don’t want to hurt you, kid. So just keep quiet and get out onto the road.” Newt was glaring hard at the man but he did as he was asked and climbed out of the truck and onto the road. Thomas climbed over after him, he reached out to help Newt to stand but he just pushed his arm away and limped over so that he could lean against one of the trees on the edge of the road, trying to keep as much weight off his foot as he could.

“Give us any weapons you have.” Thomas turned his attention back to the woman at the front of the truck. Minho had dropped his hands and was moving to reach behind him for his gun but stopped when the woman clicked the safety off her gun and moved closer to the car. Minho raised one hand as he picked the gun up from the floor.

“It you want me to get the weapons, you’re going to have to let he move.” She seemed to understand what he meant and backed off a bit but didn’t lower her weapon. Minho held out the gun towards her.

“Just drop it on the ground.” Minho threw the gun to the ground by the woman’s feet, the man on the other side of the car had asked Teresa to do the same so she took her knife out of its holster on her waist and threw it to the ground to his left.

“Now get out of the vehicle with your hands up.” She gestured with her head over at where Thomas was standing. “Join the others over there.” Teresa moved to get out of the truck but Minho grabbed hold of her arm, keeping her there.

“Why the hell should we listen to you anyway?”

Brenda spoke up from the back of the truck, her voice a bit muffled from where Thomas was standing. “Minho, don’t.”

“No, he’s right.” The woman reached up and pulled off her helmet, holding it at her waist, lowering her gun. “We’ve given you no reason to listen to us.” She nodded at the man stood by the back of the truck, Thomas had forgotten all about him. He moved, grabbing the back of Thomas’ shirt and pulled him back, holding a knife at his throat. The woman smiled.

“You don’t listen to us, we’ll kill all of you and taken what we came for.” Thomas watched as four more people emerged from the vehicles, each dressed the same as the other three surrounding them. “If you do listen to us, we’ll let you live. We’ll take what we want and we’ll be on our way.” Minho looked like he wanted to argue but he kept his mouth shut, stepping out of the truck with his hands raised. “Good boy.”

At that Minho span round and aimed a punch at her not exposed face; she swung her helmet up and nocked his hand away.

“Minho, stop!” Teresa called out from inside the truck as Minho let out a pained noise and pulled his hand back against his chest; he tried to aim a kick at her shins but she brought her helmet down hard on his head. Minho cried out in pain and fell to his knees on the ground, blood trickling down his face from the wound on his forehead.

The woman kicked the gun Minho had thrown to her earlier over to the rest of her group, one of them picked it up and put it into the car that was on the far right of the road. The man on the other side of the truck pulled Teresa out with one sharp tug and pushed her to the ground, Thomas made to move and make sure she was okay but he felt the man’s grip on his shirt tighten, the knifes blade press against his throat and stopped.

Teresa picked herself up from the ground and opened the back door when instructed to let Chuck, Brenda and Gally out of the car. The man pushed Teresa so that she’d move round the truck to go join the others at the side of the road, the rest of them followed her. She helped Minho up as she passed him and went to go join Newt over by the tree line, glancing over at Thomas as she went past him.

The woman used her sleeve to wipe the blood off her helmet and tossed it into the back of the truck.  She climbed in, sat down in the driver’s seat and turned on the ignition.

The engine roared to life as she pulled the door shut. She nodded to the man holding to knife to Thomas’ throat and he let go, dropping the knife to the ground by Thomas’ feet as he moved. He climbed up into the back of the truck and settled with his back up against the window.

Thomas walked up to the door of the truck, knocking hard on the window. The woman looked annoyed as she rolled the window down to let him speak.

“What is it?” Thomas felt the anger boil up inside him at how bored she sounded by the whole situation.

“You can’t just leave us out here to die.” A short laugh escaped her lips and her face lit up in a grin.

“That’s exactly what we’re doing.” She moved to roll the window back up but Thomas put his hand over the glass, stopping her.

“Why are you doing this to us?” She sighed, the smile slipping off her face. She put a hand on top of Thomas’ and squeezed it tight in her grip when he tried to move it away.

“I really would like to explain, trust me. But time is of the essence and we don’t like to stay in one place for too long. It’s not safe, I’m sure you can understand that.” She patted Thomas’ cheek and let his hand go; he rubbed at his hand and took a step away from the truck. The smile returned as the woman leant out the window and called out to the man in the man sat at the back.

“Janson!” He turned and leant over the side of the truck so that he could see her. “Give them a little something to keep them going, I’m feeling generous today.” The man – Janson – nodded and picked up one of the rucksacks from the back of the truck and threw it to Thomas. He caught the bag and put it on his back just as Janson threw Newt’s sword in its sheath at Gally who caught it carefully with both hands. The woman leant back into the truck, seemingly satisfied with what they’d gotten. She turned back to look at the group.

“Now I like you, you seem like a good little group, so I’m going to give you some words of wisdom. We’ll be back along this road tomorrow, and if we see any of you, we will kill you. No more second chances. You got that?” None of them answered.

The man on the other side of the truck climbed into the passenger’s seat, slamming the door behind him. “We’re ready to go.” The grin returned to her face.

“Excellent.” With that she drove forward, span the truck around and drove off down the road, leaving the group alone at the side of the road. The rest of her team got back into their cars and drove off after the truck, the tank moving last.

As it drove past them, Thomas read the writing that had been painted on its side:

 

**W-I-C-K-E-D ~~~~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was horrible to write so I hope this came across okay, let me know your thoughts, whether or not you think anything needs changing. Anything you guys have to say about it is always really appreciated. As usual, thank you for reading, you're all really lovely with you comments!


	6. Long walk ahead of us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So they’re called Wicked, so what? That has fuck all to do with us so maybe we should quit worrying about when they’re going to come back and start thinking about moving before we all get ourselves killed standing out here in the open.”

As the vans drove off into the distance, Newt looked around at what they’d been left with. One bag of supplies, his sword, and two knives that they hadn’t bothered to pick up off the floor. Everyone looked worse for wear; they were all worn out from the last few days and having all of their belongings taken from them wasn’t something that any of them had expected to happen.

Minho and Teresa were sat on the edge of the road next to the frost covered ground; Teresa was rummaging through what they’d been left with to see if there was anything they could use to bandage up Minho’s head, or to at least try and stop the bleeding.

“Well that’s it, we’re done for.” Teresa let out a noise of annoyance as she through the bag to the ground, its contents spilling out onto the ground. Newt made a move to go and pick it all up, but he felt Thomas’ grip on his waist tighten and he stopped, leaning back into him.

Chuck knelt down and picked up the bag, putting everything back in. All they had was a pair of socks, a jumper, two bottles of water, a half empty packet of crackers and some matches. He didn’t want to believe that Teresa was right, but after everything that had happened he was starting to believe it himself.

The wound on Minho’s head had mostly stopped bleeding but drops of blood were still dripping down his face. Newt looked down at his feet and remembered the bandages that Thomas had wrapped around his ankle earlier that day and had an idea.

“Hey Resa?” Teresa looked up from where she had her head rested against her knees and turned to look up at him, eyebrows raised. “You can use this if you want.” He lifted up his trouser leg to show the bandaged wrapped around his ankle. “I’ve buggered it up pretty bad now, I don’t think this is actually going to do all that much to help anymore.” Teresa’s expression softened as he spoke, a small smile on her face.

“Thanks Newt, that’d actually work really well.” Thomas seemed to have the opposite idea.

“What? No, Newt you can’t, you need it.” Newt sighed and pulled away from Thomas so he could sit down on the floor next to Minho.

“Tommy, it’s not doing nothin’ so just leave it, please. I want to help.” Thomas frowned but nodded, crouching down to help him take the bandage off.

“I’ve gotta say, I think I’m with Thomas.” Minho spoke up from next to him. “I’m not sure I want your smelly foot bandage anywhere near my face.” Teresa let out a short laugh and hit him lightly on the shoulder.

“Yeah? This is the best you’re going to get, so suck it up and deal with it, slint head.” Newt smiled to himself as Thomas finished unwrapping the bandage and passed it to Teresa. Newt tried moving his foot to see how it felt, the pain was more bearable than it had been before he took his pain meds, but it was still pretty damn uncomfortable. Thomas stood up and reached out his hand, Newt took it and Thomas helped him to stand back up. He had to hop around a bit so that he could face the rest of the group but eventually they were stood back in the same position and he could lean back against Thomas again.

Chuck had finished putting everything back in the bag and had stood back up, he was now stood next to Gally. Gally took the bag from him and swung it over his shoulder, it was his bag after all, he remembered. Gally always did travel light.  

“What are we going to do?” Brenda spoke up from besides them, her arms folded across her chest. “You heard what they said, if we’re still on this road tomorrow they’re going to kill us. Now I don’t know about you guys, but I quite like being alive.”

“She’s right.” Thomas added. “We need to get moving, find somewhere to stay for the night.” Minho moved to get up off the floor, but Teresa put a hand on his shoulder to keep him down so that she could start to tie all the bandaging around his head. She pulled the sleeve of her jumper down over her hand so that she could dab at the blood on his head, trying to clean up as much of it as possible. When she was done, she started to wrap the bandages around his head, tying them into a knot at the back of his head.

When Minho finally stood up he stood he swayed a little and closed his eyes, he looked like he was about to faint. Teresa quickly stood up to help support him but he put out an arm to stop her, trying to tell her that he was fine. He let out a breath and steadied himself before opening his eyes.

“I say our best bet is to head for the camp grounds. If we’re going to find supplies anywhere, it’ll be there.” Newt shook his head. Newt agreed that the camp grounds needed to be the next place they checked for a place to stay, but there was no way they were going to get there that day.

“We won’t make it there before dark, it’s getting late as it is and without the truck we don’t have any protection from the cranks.”

“So what?” Brenda snapped, “You just expect us to sleep on the road and wait for those people to come back and kill us?”

“Wicked.” Newt frowned and turned to look at Thomas.

“What?” Thomas looked a little embarrassed as he spoke.  

“Wicked, that’s what they’re called.” Newt glanced around the group to see that everyone was looking just as confused as he was feeling. “It was written on the side of the tank, did none of you see?”

“Who gives a shit?” Gally was glaring at them, pulling at the straps of the backpack. “So they’re called Wicked, so what? That has fuck all to do with us so maybe we should quit worrying about when they’re going to come back and start thinking about moving before we all get ourselves killed standing out here in the open.” When he finished speaking he walked round the group and headed off in the direction they’d been travelling before, Chuck and Brenda following after him.

Newt watched the three of them walk away before turning back to the rest of the group. Teresa picked the sword up from the floor and passed it to Thomas, who slung it over his shoulder as Teresa picked up the other two knives. She passed one to Minho and put the other one in the holster on her belt.

“We should probably get going, don’t want to lose them.” She walked past them, patting Newt on the shoulder as she went, jogging to catch up with the rest of the group.

“They’re all shucking idiots, I swear.” Minho muttered to himself as he too followed after them, reaching up to put some pressure on the wound on his forehead.

“Do you think you’ll be able to walk on your own?” Newt put his foot down on the floor to test it, but as soon as the pain flared up in his leg he knew what that answer was. He scrunched his face up in pain and gripped tighter onto Thomas’ t-shirt, shaking his head. “Okay, put your arm round me, I’ll help you walk.”

Newt reluctantly put his arm around Thomas’ shoulders as he helped him to turn around and the two of them followed the rest of the group along the road. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Newt spoke up.

“Just because I’m letting you help me, doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you.”

“I know, I just… I still don’t understand why you’re so upset with me? What have I done wrong?”

“You just don’t get it Tommy, I needed to be the one to do it, I needed to kill Alby.” Newt sniffed as he felt his eyes start to well up again. “It was important.” Thomas stopped them and turned so that he was facing him, Newt tried to push him forward to keep him moving. “Thomas what are you doing? We need to go.” Thomas shook his head, his hands resting against Newt’s shoulders.

“Not until you tell me why this is such a big deal for you. I thought I was helping.” Newt pushed as Thomas’ chest again but he wouldn’t budge.

“Please, Tommy. Can we just-”

“No, Newt. We can catch up to them, just tell me what’s wrong.” Thomas reached up and wiped the tear away from Newt’s cheek and he huffed out a breath, defeated.

“Okay fine, but promise me you’ll just leave it alone after that?” Thomas nodded, a small smile on his face.

“Only if you promise to forgive me for something I didn’t even know I’d done.” Newt frowned but agreed anyway, he just wanted to get moving again.

“A few months ago, after my accident, I was talking to Alby whilst you were out on a run with Teresa, Minho and Jorge. I was having one of my… bad days, I guess and I just didn’t think I was any use anymore now that I couldn’t go off on the runs with the rest of you. I was thinking I might just leave, get out of everyone’s way, and be less of a burden.” Thomas frowned at that.

“You’re not a burden, Newt.” Newt smiled slightly.

“Yeah Tommy, I know that now.” Newt shook his head as Thomas’ expression softened, scratching at his head underneath his hat. “But anyway, Alby convinced me not too and he sat me down by the fire and we… we talked. About what was going on with the Cranks and what else I could do besides going on runs and he made me feel a bit better about everything. He was always really good at that, probably one of the best friends I’ve ever had.”

“At some point I got talking about what would have happened if I’d been bitten by one of those Cranks, and he started thinking about it too I guess, because he asked me, and I’m still not sure why, if he were to ever get bitten by a Crank, if I would be the one to kill him.” Newt sighed and reached out to lean against Thomas again, starting to sway a bit only standing on one leg. Thomas complied at put his arm back around Newt, helping him to stand again.

“I know that it’s stupid, but it was one of the only things he’d ever asked me to do and I wanted to do it for him, and you took that away from me.” Thomas pulled him into a hug, Newt leant against him, his arms wrapped around Thomas’ waist.

“I’m sorry I took that from you.” Thomas spoke against Newt’s hair, he could feel his warm breath down the back of his neck. He moved so that his forehead was pressed against Thomas’ neck.

“S’my fault, shouldn’t have been such an arse about it when you didn’t know.” Newt smiled when Thomas moved to place a kiss on top of his head.

“OI, LOVEBIRDS!” Newt moved away from Thomas at the shout, it had come from Teresa. “GET A MOVE ON!” Newt snorted as he saw Minho hit Teresa on the arm to get her to quieten down. Thomas pulled away from him and walked a few paces in front of him.

“Woah, Tommy, where you going?” Thomas crouched down in front of him, putting the sword on the floor.

“Get on my back.” Newt raised his eyebrows.

“I’m sorry, what?” Thomas looked over his shoulder so he could see him.

“We’re not getting anywhere with you trying to walk, so I figured I’ll carry you instead.” Newt was kind of embarrassed at the idea that he needed carrying but he knew Thomas had a point, they weren’t going to get anywhere like this. Newt took a tentative step towards him and pulled himself up onto Thomas’ back. Thomas picked up the sword before he stood and passed it Newt, hooking his arms under Newts knees, he looked over his shoulder and Newt leant forward so that he could see him.

“Better?” Newt nodded and leant his chin against Thomas’ shoulder and Thomas smiled, starting to walk after the group. “Okay, let’s go.”

* * *

**7 months and two weeks earlier**

“I’m sorry kid, but we’re full.” Thomas frowned and leant closer to the seat in front of him so that he could hear what was going on. They’d finally reached the camp site after Minho getting them lost at least three times. The rest of the trip had gone pretty smoothly, and all of them that they hadn’t met any more people like the man back on the main road.

He couldn’t see Minho’s face from where he was sat, but from the way he spoke he knew that his friend was pretty annoyed.

“What do you mean you’re full? You can’t be full, we’ve driven all the way here!” The woman leant against the open window of the truck, a forced smile on her face.

“I mean, we’re fully booked. All of the available pitches have already been taken, there isn’t anywhere for you to stay.”

“Then where are we supposed to go?” Minho snapped. The woman took a step away from the truck, shrugging.

“That’s not my problem. Now if you would kindly use the turning up ahead to leave the camping ground,” She turned and pointed down the road to a round-about with the camp sites logo on a sign in the middle. “It would be greatly appreciated. We’ve got a lot of people waiting behind you that actually remembered to book a pitch.”

Minho glared at her but started up the engine anyway, causing the truck to jolt forward and Thomas to fall back against his seat.  Minho drove round and took the exit that would lead them away from the campsite and back onto the main road.

The five of them sat in silence for a few minutes as Minho drove them back down the road the way they’d came, Newt was the first one to break the silence.

“So… You didn’t think booking a pitch was a good idea then?” Minho looked into the mirror to shoot a glare at Newt.

“How was I supposed to know I needed to book?” Newt let out a short laugh.

“How did you _not_ know you were meant to book?” Minho frowned and looked back forward to watch the road.

“Slim it, Isaac, or I’ll kick you out of the truck.” Teresa turned to face Thomas, she mouthed ‘ _Isaac?’,_ a confused expression on her face. Thomas shrugged, mouthed back ‘ _I’ll explain later’_.

“He is right though,” Alby added, “you probably should have booked it.” Minho glanced over at Alby, who had a smug smile on his face, then back at the road.

“Alright fine, I should have booked, I’m very sorry. You slint heads happy now?” Newt’s face lit up as he laughed.

“Much happier, doesn’t change the fact that we have nowhere to camp.” Thomas sank down in his seat, he hadn’t thought about that part.

“I guess we’re just going to have to go back then.” Thomas stated, “It’s not as if there’s anywhere else round here we can go.” Teresa leant forward so that she could lean between the two front seats to speak to Minho.

“Don’t listen to Tom, he’s just a buzzkill.” He heard Miho snort from the front seat and he leant forward to hit him on the head. Minho reached up to rub at the back of his head.

“Hey! She sad it, not me.” Teresa rolled her eyes at the two of them and carried on.

“Anyway. I was thinking, why don’t we just go out into the forest instead? I mean we’ve come all this way, we can’t just turn back now.” Minho seemed to think about it for a minute before he answered.

“She does have a point, it’s a pretty good idea.” Alby frowned and turned in his seat to face the rest of the group.

“In what way is that a good idea?” Minho glanced over at Teresa, shaking his head.

“And you think Thomas is a buzzkill.” Teresa grinned and leant back in her chair again.

“No, Minho I’m serious, we can’t do that. We don’t have the _permission_ to do that.” Alby looked over at Thomas for backup, Thomas couldn’t help but admit Alby had a point. “Right?”

“I agree with Alby.” Teresa span round to look at him, eyebrows raised.

“Tom, no!”

“Oh come on Tommy, it’ll be fun.” Teresa face lit up at the sound of Newt using his nickname.

“Yeah _Tommy_ , where’s your sense of adventure.” Thomas glared at her, but it just made her laugh.

“Alby’s right though, we don’t have the permission to be out there, we could get in trouble.” Minho took a right turn at a crossing and continued on down the road.

“Let’s take it to a vote then, all in favour of going camping in the forest?” Teresa and Newt both voiced their agreement. “So that’s three for camping. All those in favour of going home? Oh wait, you’ve already been outnumbered.” Alby rolled his eyes and turned back to look out the window.

“Fine, but if we get in trouble, I’m putting the blame on you three.” Newt leant forward so that he could see Alby better.

“There’s not going to be anyone there to get in trouble with Alby, we’ll be the only ones there.”

“Yeah I know, that’s what I’m worried about.”

After driving back for another half an hour, Minho pulled up into a car park at the side of the road, used for people who came to walk the nature trails. It was quite empty since it had already started to get dark so they hurried to get all of their belongings out of the back of the truck and look over the map that was stuck to a sign at the car parks entrance.

Newt and Alby were looking over the map, trying to find somewhere that looked like it’d be okay for them to camp. They were trying to find somewhere that had open space, but where they wouldn’t be found by anyone walking the dirt paths.

“Hey guys,” Alby called over to them to where they were leaning against the truck. “We think we’ve found something.” Thomas grabbed his bag and lifted it onto his back, making his way over to join them. When he got there, Newt pointed to an area of the map in the top corner.

“We’re pretty sure that the tree coverage over here isn’t as thick as everywhere else, it used to be a picnic area but they’ve gotten rid of it because no one would ever go that far out.” Newt tapped a sign that had been tacked underneath the map, notifying people about the areas removal.

“It’s also five minutes away from the main path,” Alby added, “So the chances of people coming across us is unlikely.” Thomas nodded his agreement, it seemed like it was a pretty good place for them to go, even though he still wasn’t too keen on the idea.

“Sounds good to me.” Teresa piped up.

“Better than that spry excuse for a campsite,” Minho decided “I’m in.” Newt frowned and looked over at him.

“In what way is it better than the campsite?”

“I thought you agreed this was a good idea?” Newt shook his head.

“I agreed that it’s better than going back home, I didn’t agree that it’d be a better idea than the campsite. They have showers there, we won’t have that, and you’re going to stink. More so than usual.” Thomas laughed at Minho’s shocked expression.

“Shut it, Newt.” Newt just shrugged and turned back to look at the map. Thomas looked over the map to have a better look at where they were going. It looked like it would take them at least half an hour to get to where they needed to be; combined with the fact that they needed to carry all of their belongings _and_ it was starting to look dark, Thomas couldn’t help but think that maybe going home _was_ a better idea.

“Are we gonna get going or what?” Teresa spoke up from behind them. “There’s no use standing around here all day discussing it, either we’re going or we’re not.” Thomas had a sudden feeling of happiness at hearing her say that, she’d only known his friends for just over an hour and she already felt comfortable enough around them to boss them around.

“Fine, lets go.” Minho decided, picking up his bag from where he’d put it by his feet and hoisting it onto his back, picking up his tent bag in his other hand. “Alby, you want to lead the way?” Alby nodded, securing his bag on his back.

“Sure, but if we get lost, don’t blame me.” Alby double checked with the map before he walked off towards the woods. Minho scoffed and followed after him.

“Would you stop being such a pessimist? It’s going to be fun, trust me.” Thomas sighed and the rest of them followed Alby off into the woods. It was going to be a long week.

* * *

They’d been walking for what felt like hours and Thomas felt like he was going to collapse.

Despite the cold weather he’d managed to stay warm, combined with the weight of Newt on his back he was really starting to get tired. He’d caught up with the rest of the group a while ago, they’d tried to keep up the pace but all of them were starting to slow and it didn’t look like they were going to reach the campsite in time.

Thomas was pretty sure Newt had fallen asleep, he could feel his warm breath against his shoulder and his arms had loosened their grip around his neck a while back. Minho was really starting to look ill and he kept having to stop because his vision was starting to become fuzzy, no matter how many times Teresa had told him they needed to stop he just kept ignoring her, saying they needed to keep moving on.

“Hey, Thomas?” Thomas looked to his right to see that Gally had slowed down to walk next to him. Gally had spent the entire time at the front of the group, so he was a bit confused as to why he’d come to join him.

“Yeah?”

“Do you want me to take him for a bit?” He nodded towards where Newt was sleeping on his back. “You look almost as bad as Minho, and we don’t need two people passing out on us before we’ve gotten to where we need to be.” Thomas was confused by the gesture, Gally had never really showed that he cared all that much about anyone in the group before, but he wasn’t in the frame of mind to be thinking about that now, so he nodded his agreement and slowed to a stop at the side of the road.

Gally took off his backpack and dropped it to the floor by Thomas’ feet. Thomas released his grip on Newt knees and left Gally lift him off of his back, carrying him in his arms. He’d expected Newt to wake up from the movement but he stayed asleep, only moving to put an arm round Gally’s neck and leant against his shoulder. Thomas couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy at the sight, but he told himself he was just being stupid, Newt was asleep for god’s sake.

Thomas picked the bag up of the floor and stretched out his back, feeling some of the joints pop at the loss of the weight. He put the bag on his back and walked back to the rest of the group with Gally.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to do that.” Gally just shrugged.

“Like I said, you were slowing us down, I just want to get there.”

“You know we’re not going to get there today right?” Gally nodded, not looking at him.

“I know that, but that doesn’t mean we have to start slacking off now. The further we get today, the less we’ll have to walk tomorrow.”

“I guess that-” Thomas was drawn out of his thoughts by noises up ahead of him. He looked back over at the rest of the group to see them all stood huddled around something on the ground, he ran forward to go and see what had happened. He slowed as he reached the group and pushed past Brenda and Chuck to see that it was actually Minho on the floor, he dropped to his knees by Minho’s head and looked over at Brenda.

“What the hell happened?”

“He just collapsed, he was complaining that his head was hurting but we just assumed nothing of it because that’s all he’s been talking about.” Thomas looked back down at Minho; some of the colour had drained from his face and there was blood seeping through the bandages on his head.

“We need to find somewhere to stop or he’s just going to get worse.”

“Well where exactly so you suggest we go, Thomas? We’re in the middle of nowhere!” Brenda had knelt down on the other side of Minho now, so Thomas didn’t have to look up far to glare at her.

“Do you think I don’t know that?” He snapped at her. She shrunk back and Thomas immediately felt bad for how he’d reacted. “Just help me get him up, we can carry him into the forest a bit, try and find a big enough clearing for us to stop for the night.” Brenda looked sceptical.

“Do you really think that’s going to work? That it’ll keep us safe?” Teresa came back over to the group carrying a bottle of water, Thomas hadn’t even noticed that she’d gone.

“Do you have any better ideas, Brenda?” When she didn’t answer Teresa continued. “Exactly, now just shut the hell up and help.” Together, both Thomas and Brenda took one of Minho’s arms and pulled him up, hooking his arms over their shoulders to keep him standing. Teresa moved so that she was stood in front of him and patted him on the cheek.

“Min? Minho we need you to wake up.” When he didn’t respond she hit him a bit harder. Minho’s face screwed up and he opened one of his eyes, letting out a groan.

“What happened? Why do I feel like someone’s ran me over?” Teresa let out a sigh of relief and unscrewed the lid of the water bottle.

“We think you feinted. Come on, drink some of this.” She brought the bottle up to Minho’s lips but he turned his head away.

“Shuck off, I’m fine.”

“You’re obviously not fine, for once in your life will you just let me help you? Please?” Minho looked at her for a bit before nodding and opening his mouth. “Thank you.” Teresa helped him to have a few mouthfuls of water before she put the lid back on and went to go and put it back in the backpack. When she came back she walked straight past them and into the forest.

“Are we going or what?” Thomas looked over at Brenda and she nodded, the two of them started to walk into the forest after her, helping to carry Minho between them. Minho groaned as they moved, closing his eyes.

“If you shanks make me walk into a tree, I _will_ leave you out to the Cranks, do not test me.” Thomas smiled to himself, glad that Minho was still acting like himself despite his injurie.

Helping Minho through the forest wasn't as hard as he'd first thought it would be. They were mostly just there to make sure he didn't fall since Minho did most of it himself, still too stubborn to think he needed their help.

With the trees blocking what was left of the sunlight, they couldn't see all that far ahead of them. Thomas had tripped over a tree root at least twice as they made their way through the trees and he was glad it was dark enough for no one to have noticed. Teresa had slowed down so they wouldn't lose her in the dark, Gally and Chuck moved closer so that they stayed as more of a group.

They stayed in relative silence, trying not to draw any attention to themselves, but Thomas didn’t think anyone was awake enough to have anything to say; he certainly wasn’t. He was still trying to wrap his head around what had happened. Why those people – Wicked – would want to kill them, when they were facing a threat as big as the cranks, it just didn’t make sense to him.

Thomas understood as well as anyone that you had to do almost anything to survive, but killing people who haven’t done anything to threaten you? That was something he didn’t think he’d ever be able to understand. Surely, keeping as much of the human race alive until someone figured out how to stop the cranks, was their main priority, not killing them all off.

He looked behind him at where Gally was still carrying Newt in his arms, fast asleep with one arm hanging down, and smiled to himself. Sure, he missed his parents and his home and his old life, but if he had to have been stuck in what Minho had jokingly dubbed ‘the apocalypse’, at least he was with three of the people he most cared about in the world; even if two of those people had gotten hurt along the way.

After a few minutes of walking they found a small clearing in the trees big enough for the seven of them to sleep for the night, Thomas couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so happy to see a patch of grass. With Brenda help Thomas managed to get Minho to sit down against a tree at the edge of the clearing, they’d managed to keep him awake as they walked through the trees, but Minho looked to be drifting off almost as soon as he sat down. Thomas decided that he wasn’t going to be much help anymore, so he left Brenda to sort out Minho's bandaging and went to join the others.

Gally had woken up Newt and was helping him down to the ground so he could lean up against the tree for support. Newts face was red like he was embarrassed by the whole situation, when he saw Thomas he glared at him. Thomas held his hands up in a surrender as he approached them, confused.

"What have I done now?" Newt reached out and hit him on the arm.

"You shouldn't have let me sleep, Tommy! That's not fair on everyone else, especially not on Gally for carrying me." Newt turned to look at Gally then. "Thanks for that, by the way." Gally shrugged.

"Thomas carried you most of the way here, it's him you should be thanking." Newt looked over at him, his eyes brows raised in surprise. "Anyway, that doesn't even matter. What matters is the fact that we haven't got any protection out here, so we need to set up shifts of who's staying awake to keep watch."

"I'll take the first shift." Newt suggested. "I slept most of the way here, it only makes sense that you guys get have a rest." Gally nodded his agreement.

"Fair enough. I'll take second, just wake me up in a few hours." Gally patted Newt on the shoulder and went off to the edge of the clearing to sleep. Thomas looked over to see Teresa yawning next to him, trying to cover it up with her hand. He nudged her with his shoulder.

"You should probably go and get some sleep too; I’m going to stay up with Newt for a bit." Teresa nodded, rubbing at the back of her neck.

"Don't stay up too late though Tom, or you'll be no good tomorrow."

“Yeah I know, now go sleep, T.” Thomas pushed her lightly on the back in the direction Gally had gone, she tried to hit his arms away and missed, but she didn’t seem to care enough to try again.

Thomas took the bag off his back and dropped it to the forest floor, sitting down up against a tree next to where Newt was now sitting. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, trying to keep warm against the cold winter breeze.

His eyes were starting to get used to the dark so he could see that everyone had settled down for the night, Minho had fallen asleep up against the tree; Thomas thought he looked pretty ridiculous with his head leaning against his right shoulder, mouth wide open, but he didn’t dare tell him about it. Teresa was curled up on the group not too far from him, the hood from her jumper pulled over her head so he couldn’t see her face.

Gally, Brenda and Chuck all lay together on the other side of the clearing. A few months ago and Thomas would have been surprised by it, but Gally seemed to have opened up to the two of them where he hadn’t with everyone else. So seeing Gally laid out on his back with Brenda leaning her head against his chest and Chuck using his arm as a pillow was something that he’d grown to find normal.

“You know you don’t have to stay up with me, right?” Thomas turned his gaze from the group to where Newt was sat by his side. He had his hat pulled down over his ears, tufts of hair sticking out of the front. Newt was quite obviously cold, his jacket pulled tight around him but he lay his legs out in front of him, careful not to put any weight on his leg.

“I know. I just thought you could use some company.” Newt smiled, looking down at his hands. He picked at his finger nails, a habit Thomas had only noticed he’d only picked up recently.

“What do you think’s going to happen when we get to the camp?” Newt didn’t look up at him as he spoke, his voice quiet so as to not wake up any of the group. “I mean, what if we get there and it’s overrun? What are going to do then?” Thomas had been thinking the same thing all day. If they got to the campsite and it had been taken by cranks then they didn’t have anywhere else they could go. Now with the risk of running into wicked again, finding a safe place to stay was more important than ever.

“I guess we’re just going to have to keep going on down the road, try and find another car we can take and just keep driving.” Newt nodded and leant his head back against the tree.

“If that happens and we don’t find a car, I think it’d be best if you leave me behind.” Thomas snapped his gaze from Newts hands up to his face, in complete shock at his words.

“What? There is no way that I’m ever leaving you behind.”

“No just hear me out. I can’t run. I can barely even stand up without help anymore. What use am I going to be if we come up against a group of cranks?” Newt let out a breathy laugh. “I’m completely hopeless, I’d just slow you down.” Thomas turned so that he as sat cross-legged at Newts side, facing him.

“Hey, look at me.” When Newt didn’t make any move to acknowledge him he reach out and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Newt?” Newt looked down at his hands again for a few seconds before he turned his gaze on Thomas. Thomas reached up with his other hand brushed some of Newts hair away from his face, stopping to rest his hand against Newts cheek.

“Whatever happens, I’m not leaving you behind. That is not an option, have you got that?”

“But-” Thomas cut him off.

“No.” Newt bit down on his bottom lip and slumped a little in his hold. “I don’t care if you can never walk again, I am not leaving you behind. Not now, not ever.” Newts gaze flicked between his eyes for a while but eventually he nodded and Thomas leant his head against Newts shoulder, letting out a breath of relief.

“M’sorry.” Thomas titled his head so that he could place a kiss on Newts neck.

“Don’t be. Just… Please, you’ve got to stop thinking like that. I need you, okay? We all do.” The corner of Newt’s mouth curled up in a small smile and he nodded. Thomas gave him and smile back and moved to lay down so that he was laying with his head in Newt’s lap, looking out over the rest of the group. Newts hand almost immediately moved so that he could run his fingers through Thomas’ hair.

Thomas closed his eyes and let sleep take over, they had a long day ahead of them in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a horrible person, this took me so long to update, i'm sorry! I hope this made up for it, i'll try and get the next chapter up a lot sooner


	7. The things we do to pretect the ones we love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They'd barely been on the road for half an hour when Thomas heard noises coming from behind them. He was at the back of the group, keeping an eye out for Cranks, so no one else seemed to have heard the noise yet.  
> He turned round to see where the noise was coming from only to see a set of headlights on the horizon, heading towards them.  
> "Guys we need to move, now!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter was such a filler chapter it was unreal, i'm sorry about that but it needed to happen. Everythings going to start kicking off now, so I hope you like it!

Newt woke up to the sounds of people talking not far from him. He was leaning up against the tree still, his chin resting against his chest. He sat up straight and groaned, the joints in his back popping as he did. He reached up to run at his neck, it was a bit sore from the way he’d been sleeping, but it was something he’d come to live with.

He pulled his knees up to his chest and pushed off the ground to help him to stand up-right, leaning back against the tree once he was stood. It was light out now, but obviously still quite early. The trees were still blocking out a lot of the light but what was getting through was reflecting of the frosty ground.

Thomas must have heard him wake up because he’d left his conversation with Gally and had come over to join Newt at the edge of the small clearing, the sword hung over his shoulder. 

“Morning.” Thomas smiled, leaning up next to him against the tree.

“Monrin’, Tommy.” He nudged Newt’s leg with his knee.

“Sleep good?” Newt made a noise to say it was alright and Thomas nodded, obviously understanding him.

“What were you talking to Gally about?”

“Nothing much, I was just telling him that next time we take sleeping shifts to actually wake me up for my turn. You know he stayed awake the whole night after you woke him up?” Newt frowned, surprised.

“What? He said he wouldn’t!” Thomas shrugged.

“He said he wanted to help.” Newt signed and looked over at where Gally was waking up Brenda and Chuck.

“He needs to stop doing that.” He could see Thomas frowning at him and turned his attention back to him.

“Doing what?”

“Acting like he still owes us for taking him in. It’s been months now, he’s done enough.” Thomas looked thoughtful, looking over at the three.

“Maybe so, but if he wants to help, I say let him.” Newt guessed Thomas had a point. Gally was a very stubborn person and he doubted talking to him about it would do anything to change his mind on the subject.

The rest of the group were all awake now, each in varying states of awareness. Teresa was sat with Minho, trying her best to sort out the bandaging for his head.

The bleeding had stopped now, thank god, but the wound had only just started to scab over and she was worried it was going to get infected. Without anything new to bandage it with, she was having to deal with pouring some of their remaining water over the strips and ringing out as much of the blood as she could. As she twisted the bandaging, the red tinted water dripped onto the frozen ground, melting away some of the frost.

Once most of the water was gone, Teresa pressed gently against the cut with the bandage and Minho winced, closing his eyes. Unlike the previous day, he didn’t pull away and let Teresa help him without any complaints, just sat in silence waiting for her to finish.

Gally came over and drew Newts attention away from the other two. He looked tired, after having stayed awake since Newt woke him up after four hours of letting them sleep. He’d been struggling to keep his eyes open any longer and had assumed that Gally was going to wake up someone else later to keep the shifts going. Now that he knew that Gally had been awake the whole time, Newt felt really bad about it.

Gally held in his hand two crackers that he had taken from his backpack when he approached them. He cleared his throat to get Thomas’ attention before he spoke.

"I know it’s not much, but we've only got two each until we get to the campsite. So..." He held the crackers out to the two of them and they both took one. Thomas immediately started to eat it, shoving as much as he could in his mouth, obviously not worrying about saving anything. Newt just shook his head, a small smile on his face at the sight.

"Thanks, Gally. I really appreciate you sharing these with us." Thomas said something as well, but it just came out as a jumble of noises because of all the bits of cracker still crammed in his mouth. Gally shot Thomas a disgusted look but when he turned back at Newt he just shrugged.

"Figured you needed something to eat, haven't had much chance for that lately." Teresa came over and joined them, Minho trailing behind her. She'd taken her hair down from the bun on top of her head and was wearing the woollen hat that Gally had been wearing when they left the campsite, which was very similar to Newts, to keep off the cold air.

"You shanks ready to go?" Minho asked as he came to a stop next to Newt. Newt looked round the empty clearing as Chuck and Brenda finally joined them. They hadn’t left anything behind, not that there was much to leave anyway.

“Looks like it.” Gally handed Minho and Teresa a cracker each, both of whom expressed their thanks before eating it. Newt bit into his and, even though it made his mouth feel dry, the food tasted better than he’d expected. He put it down to them not having eaten anything in nearly two days now.

“Okay.” Minho swallowed the rest his cracker before he tried to carry on speaking. “We’re heading on to the campsite, that’s our best shot at finding somewhere to sleep and getting some food. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” There were sounds of agreement from the rest of the group, Chuck’s stomach even starting the grumble. He looked up at the rest of the group, a shy smile on his face, everyone just laughed.

“Right, let’s get going.” Minho headed off back through the trees in the way they’d come the day before. It was much easier to see now with it being light out so Newt wasn’t too worried about having to keep up. He started to follow them and Thomas moved to walk with him, reaching out to help.

"I'm not letting you carry me again Thomas.” Thomas dropped his arm down to his side. “It's only a few more miles from here, I want to walk it." Thomas didn't look too pleased about that, but he didn't bother to argue with him.

"If you're sure, just tell me if it starts to get too bad, okay?" Newt smiled and nodded his agreement.

"Course."

* * *

 

They'd barely been on the road for half an hour when Thomas heard noises coming from behind them. He was at the back of the group, keeping an eye out for Cranks, so no one else seemed to have heard the noise yet.

He turned round to see where the noise was coming from only to see a set of headlights on the horizon, heading towards them.

"Guys we need to move, now!" The rest of the group looked confused, but turned round to see what was going on. The recognition of what was happening swept over their faces and everyone darted into the tree line, crouching down behind some bushes to keep out of sight. Thomas moved to the edge of the bush he was leant against so he could see the road, but made sure he was still out if sight of anyone that might come past.

As the vehicle drew closer to them, Thomas noticed that it was in fact Minho's truck. The only difference being they'd painted 'WICKED' on the front in big black letters, marking it as their own. Thomas turned back round so that he was sitting with his back to the bush.

"It's them. It's Wicked." Brenda leant forward so that she could see past Gally to Thomas.

"How many of them are there? Are they all back?" Thomas could hear the panic in her voice.

"It's just the one." Thomas reassured her. He looked over to see her nodding to herself, leaning back against the bush. "They're actually in Minho's truck, looks like all our stuffs still in the back too." Thomas heard someone scoff before Minho spoke up from further down the line.

"Assholes, I still can't believe they took my baby."

"Oh quit whining," Thomas could imagine the look Teresa was giving Minho without having to see it, he'd been on the receiving end of it many times. "It's just a truck, we'll find another one."

He could just make out Minho's mutterings of 'it won't be the same' from where he was sat and tried not to laugh. The rumble of the truck was getting louder now, Thomas glanced back over to see that it had almost reached them.

"Guys, keep still." Everyone leant back against the bush, huddled together to try and keep out of sight. Gally had to bend down to keep his head from sticking out over the top of the leaves. As the truck drove past it sent a gust of wind trailing after it, shaking the bush and chilling the air around them. Everyone kept silent as it continued to drive on, soon the noise of the engine was gone and everyone let out a collective sigh.

"Urm, guys?" Everyone other than Teresa, that is. "They've stopped."

"What do you mean they've stopped?" Chuck asked, "Why are they stopping?" Thomas could tell how scared Chuck was by the panic in his voice.

"I don't know, Chuck. I think we should go find out though." Teresa made a move to stand up but Newt grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her back down.

"No, Resa. That’s a terrible idea.” Teresa pulled her arm away, making no move to sit back down, staying crouched next to him ready to go at any second. “We just need to stay here, wait for them to go." When no one said anything to agree with him, Newt leant forward to address the whole group. "Right?"

"I don't know..." Thomas tried to voice his opinion, but the look Newt shot him made him shut up. Newt turned back to Teresa, Thomas moved forward a bit so that he could see the whole group better.

"It's too dangerous, they said they were going to kill us if they ever saw us again."

"And that is exactly why we should go, Newt! We need to find out what they're doing, maybe we can stop them." Newt shook his head, pulling his knees to his chest leaning his arms against them.

"What the hell are we going to be able to do about them? We just a bunch of kids, we can't handle this!"

"She's right, Newt." Both Newt and Teresa turned to look of him. Newt looked annoyed, but Teresa was frowning at him, shocked at his comment. "If we can find out what they're doing and we can stop them, we won't have to worry about them anymore." Newt didn't look happy. He looked over at the rest of the group, addressing them.

"What do you all think?" Gally shared a look with Minho before speaking.

"I'm with Thomas." Minho nodded his agreement. "If we can find a way to stop them, I say we do it." Newt huffed and leant back against the bush.

"Fine, but if you go and get yourself killed, don't say I didn’t warn you.” Teresa squeezed Newt on the shoulder before getting up and running through the trees to get closer to the parked car. Thomas agreed with Newt that it was dangerous, so he too got up and went to follow her, not wanting to let Teresa go alone.

Newt reached up and grabbed his hand as he passed him. "Tommy, please don't." Thomas squeezed Newts hand and crouched down in front of him. He could see how scared Newt looked, but he had to go with Teresa, he couldn’t risk her going off by herself.

"I've got to go watch out for her, Newt. I'm sorry. Promise I’ll be careful." He leant if to place a quick kiss on Newts lips before straightening up to run after his sister.

It didn’t take long until he found Teresa crouched down by a tree across the road from the truck which was a few meters ahead of them. He slowed to a stop besides her and crouched down, watching the two people that had gotten out of the car. He recognised them as the man they’d called Janson and the woman that'd seemed to be in charge of them all.

She was stood by the hood of the truck, waiting for Janson to return from whatever it was he was doing at the back of the truck. She was obviously starting to get impatient as she crossed her arms over her chest, shouting back to him.

"Would you hurry up with that map? We don't have all day you know!" Janson grabbed what must have been the map - Newts map, Thomas realised - from the back of the truck and ran over to join her.

"Sorry Ava, I mean, Chancellor Paige." The woman - Ava - grabbed the map and hit him over the head with it. Janson took a step away from her, rubbing his head as she rolled the map out over the hood of the truck. Thomas couldn't help the snort he let out at that, Teresa leant back to hit him on the leg, trying to shut him up.

"They mapped this out pretty good, I can see why they've managed to stay alive this long." Janson spoke up, coming up behind her to look at the map from over Ava's shoulder. "I never did get a good look in that hut they built." Teresa looked back at him, frowning. Thomas shrugged, just as confused as her. Why would Janson have ever had the chance to look around their camp? Had they gone back to look for anything they’d left behind? He kept his eyes on the two of them, not wanting to miss anything. There was obviously something going on here, and he wanted to know what.

"Which one of them did this?" Ava had turned to look at Janson. Thomas couldn't see her face, but he could guess she didn't look to happy as Janson moved away again, giving her some space.

"It was the blonde one, you know, with the limp?" Janson pointed down at his leg as if that gave any hint as to who he was talking about.

"He's called Isaac." Janson looked confused. Thomas felt sick to his stomach, how the hell did they know Newts name? Newt’s real name. The only one who called him that was Minho, and that was only when he was angry. How did these two people, who they had met for ten minutes the day before, already know Newt’s name?

Thomas could see Ava shaking her head, looking back down at the map, muttering something to herself. "He's the one they call Newt." Still Janson gave no reaction to say he understood what she was talking about. She let out a frustrated noise and turned back round to face him, leaning against the hood of the truck. "Janson, we've been monitoring them for two months now, how do you not know what they're called?" Janson seemed to shrink in on himself, shoving his hands in the pockets of his long coat.

"I kind of just gave them my own names... I call him limp-y." She shook her head, looking up at the sky.

"Why am I surrounded by such idiots?" Janson looked hurt, but his expression switched to neutral as she looked back at him, obviously trying to seem un-phased by the comment.

"So where too next boss? What about going to the campsite?" Ava shook her head turning back to the map.

"No, you know we can’t yet. We're setting up camp a few miles down the road from there on either sides." She pointed to two places on the map, Thomas wished they were closer so that he could see where she meant. "You do know the plan don't you?" Janson nodded, leaning on his arms against the hood.

"Course I know the plan. Heard the Cranks toward the campsite, draw them out, catch them as the leave, kill them, take all their stuff, survive."

"We need to be at least two miles away so that they won't suspect anything."

"See that's what I don't get. Why can't we just ambush them as soon as they leave?" Ava pushed away from the truck so that she could stand in front of Janson, who turned to face her. From this new position Thomas had a better view of her face, the excitement on it making him wish he didn't.

"Where’s your sense of fun? You know I enjoy messing with them." She grinned, her whole face lighting up with excitement. "Letting them think they've made it out, only to rip that away from them." She sighed, her grin slipping into a small smile. "The look on their faces... Don't you just love that?" Thomas didn't wait to see what Janson had to say to that, he took Teresa's hand a pulled gently, trying to get her to come with him. She turned to look at him and nodded, stepping up from her hiding place.

They'd only taken a few steps, Teresa moving in front of him, when Thomas heard a crack; he'd stood on a twig.

"What was that?" He heard Ava ask from across the road. Thomas dropped to the floor, Teresa doing the same in front of him, panic evident on her face.

"What are we going to do?" She whispered to him, as quiet as she could. He didn't answer her, trying to stay as quiet as possible, listening out for voices.

"Janson, go and check that out. I definitely heard something." Thomas snapped his gaze to Teresa, if they didn’t get of there now, they were going to get caught.

"You've got to move." He whispered to her.

"What?" She replied. "You're coming with me, right?"

"I'll be right behind you, just go." Teresa nodded, and moved onto her hands and knees to crawl behind a bush a few meters away. Thomas moved into the same position to follow after her, careful to not make any more noise. Teresa had just gotten round the bush when he heard noises from behind him.

"I've got him! Ava, I can see him!" Thomas looked over his shoulder and saw Janson running towards him. He got up from the ground and sprinted off through the trees, leaving Teresa behind. "Oi! Get back here!" He could hear Janson running after him, crashing through the forest behind him, but he didn't look back to check how close he was.

Thomas ran as fast as he could, ducking under branches and jumping over upturned tree roots. He didn't think he'd ever been so scared in his life. Sure, running for your life from a group of Cranks was terrifying, but at least they weren't that fast. Janson seemed to be matching his speed, keeping up with him as he sprinted through the trees.

He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, threatening to burst free. His breath was coming up short, taking large gasps to get in as much oxygen as he could. He wanted to turn back, run towards his group, but he couldn’t risk Janson following him. There was no way he was going to let the other be caught.

Thomas risked a look back over his shoulder and sure enough, Janson was only a few meters behind him, though he too looked like he was running out of breath.

"Get back here, Bambi! You can't run forever!" Thomas looked back in front of him and came face to face with a low lying tree branch. He tried to slow down, but he was going at such a speed that he slammed his forehead into the tree, falling onto his back on the forest floor.

His vision was blurring in front of him and he tried to get up but he tripped, the pain in his head making him dizzy, and fell to his knees. He heard the unmistakable click of a gun behind him and stopped still, he'd been caught, there was nothing left that he could do.

He could hear the deep breaths Janson was taking as he came and stood behind him. He screwed his eyes shut, preparing for the inevitable.

"Get up, Bambi." Thomas raised his hands and stood up, he was confused as to why he was being called 'Bambi' but he didn't question it. He turned to face Janson. Hid vision was still pretty blurry and his head was throbbing, but he could just about make out the man’s rat like features. The gun was now pointed straight at his head. "Where’s the rest of your group?"

"They're-" Thomas winced, he own voice making his head hurt. "They're not here, I lost them a few hours ago."

"I don't believe you."

"It's true, we got attacked by a group of Cranks. I ran one way and lost them, I was still trying to find them when you showed up." Janson walked round so that he was stood behind Thomas, pressing the barrel of the gun to the back of his head. Thomas tried to suppress a shiver at the touch of the cold metal.

"Walk." Thomas obliged, walking back through the forest in the direction that he'd come from. He made sure to walk in more of a diagonal so that there was no chance of them walking into Teresa. There was no way he was going to let her get caught too.

By the time they'd made it out of the trees, Thomas felt like he was going to pass out. The pain in his head had more than doubled and he'd tripped over nothing more times that he could count. Janson had to physically pull him along back to the truck to stop him from falling again.

"Janson, you haven't damaged him, have you?" Thomas looked up to see Ava perched on the hood of the car. She jumped down on their arrival, walking over to where Janson had stopped them in the middle of the road.

"He ran into a tree, it wasn't my fault." Ava took how of his face, tutting.

"You poor thing, and I thought you were meant to be one of the smart ones." She sighed, patting his cheek before letting go. His chin fell to his chest again, the movement making the pain to flare up him, causing him to let out an involuntary groan. "Put him in the back."

"But I thought we were going to kill him?"

"Oh no, Janson. This ones different, we need to keep him." Thomas let his eyes fall shut as Janson pulled him in the direction of the truck. He'd barely registered what had been said but right now he didn't care, the important thing was that everyone else was safe.

He heard the doors of the truck open and he was suddenly being pushed forward. Thomas used the last of his strength to climb into the back of the truck and collapse across the back seats.

Sleep came over him easily as the doors slammed shut.

* * *

 

Newt was starting to panic. They'd been gone for at least twenty minutes now and they still weren't back yet. What was so important that Wicked were parked up on the side of the road for so long.

"Newt, you need to calm down." Minho spoke up from next to him, drawing him out of his thoughts. "Worrying isn't going to help with anything."

"I know that." Newt snapped, and immediately regretted it. He sighed, resting his face in his hands. "I'm sorry, i'm just scared for them." He felt Minho's arm across his back and moved to the side so that he was leant against his friend, his head leaning on his shoulder.

"We're all worried about them, Newt. But they're going to be fine. Thomas is a big boy, he can take care of himself."

"Besides," Brenda added, "They're both pretty smart, they know not to get seen." The sound of footsteps to his left caught his attention. He reached out for his sword, wrapping his hand around the hilt and leant away from Minho, sitting up straight. He turned to see who it was and let out a sigh of relief as Teresa came into sight, running quickly towards them. He looked behind her for Thomas but he wasn't there and all of a sudden the panic came rushing back.

Teresa must of seen it on his face because she dropped to the floor in front of him threw her arms around him, pressing her far against his neck. Newt hugged her close to him, he could feel her starting to shake in his arms.

"Resa? Where's Thomas? What happened?" When she didn't respond Newt looked back the way she'd come, waiting for Thomas to come running out through the trees, but the longer he looked the more scared he got. "Teresa please. Wheres Tommy?" Teresa let out a shaky breath against his chest and pulled away from him, sat on her knees in front of him.

"They-" Her voice caught in her throat, he could see the tears in her eyes that were threatening to spill over. "They took him, they took Tom." With that Teresa let the tears fall and Newt thought he could feel his heart break in two. They had Thomas. The people who threatened to kill them had taken Thomas, he was never going to see him again. He was in so much shock that he barely heard what Minho was saying.

"-can't just let them take him like that! We've got to go get him back!" Minho got up off the floor and headed off in the direction the truck must have taken off in. Gally got up two and grabbed a hold of his arm, pulling him back.

"Minho don't." Minho span round and aimed a glare at Gally, despite being a few inches shorter than him Newt knew he wasn't afraid of him.

"What are you going to do to stop me, Gally? They just took one of my best friends, I am not just going to sit around and let them get away with that!" Minho was shouting now.

"Guys-" Teresa was cut off by Gally shouting back at Minho.

"And what exactly are you going to do Minho? We have hardly weapons, no supplies, we've lost three people in two days, we have nothing!" Teresa had managed to stop her crying somewhat and had stood up now, standing next to the two of them.

"Guys, just-"

"I don't know, I just know that i'm going to save my friend, with or without you."

"Well good luck saving him on your own then, because its a suicide mission!"

"GUYS!" Teresa shoved at Gally's chest to push him away from Minho, they two of them both moved back, drawn from their arguing by Teresa's shouting. Newt looked up at Teresa, her eyes had gone all red and puffy, tear tracks down her face, but she looked determined.

"I don't know where they're taking Thomas, but I know how to find the rest of their group."

"What? How?" Newt asked, he knew it was a long shot, but by finding the rest of Wicked, they should be able to find Thomas. Now that Teresa had everyones attention she wiped at her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

"They have a plan to attack the campsite in a fee days, they're going to be stationed a few miles out on either side."

"So what? We wait out here and find them when they set up camp?" Minho sounded skeptical, and Newt couldn't help feeling the same way.

"No, we're still going to the campsite."

"No way." Gally pipped up. "Why would we go to the one place we know is going to be attacked?" Newt knew that Gally was right, but by going to the campsite they could help save all of the people that they hoped were living there. Besides, they had a few days, if nothing else they could stock up on supplies and leave before anyone attacked.

"Because Thomas would want to save them." As soon as the words left Teresa's mouth Newt knew it was true. Of course Thomas would want to save a bunch of people he'd never met, it was exactly the type of thing he would do, the self sacrificing bastard.

Minho and Gally started to voice their opinions on the matter, and loudly too. Shouting across each other to be heard. Newt could see that Teresa was on the brink of loosing it again, her composure starting to fall at the sight of the two boys arguing. She looked down at him, her expression begging him to agree with her, to help her.

"Would you all just SHUT. UP!" Newt shouted, causing both Gally and Minho to look at him in shock. He didn't care about them right now though, the small smile on Teresa's face was all he was focused on.

"We need to get Thomas back, so whatever it is you think we should do, i'm in." Gally rolled his eyes and looked down at him.

"You can't be serious? I know you just lost your boyfriend, but that doesn't mean you can just go off risking your life in the hopes that he's still alive, Newt. He's not the only one that matters." Newt got up off the ground and stood in front of Gally, looking up at him.

"I don't care what you think is best for me, Gally. You have no say in what I do and don't do. So you can either help us to get Thomas back, or just leave, because if you don't care enough to save the main that has saved your life more times than I can count, the I sure as hell don't want you here." Gally scoffed and picked his bag up from the ground.

"Fine. Good luck getting yourselves killed. See if I care." With that he took off into the trees. Newt hadn't actually expected Gally to leave but he had too much pride to call out for him now.

"Does anyone else want to leave?" Minho spoke up from behind him. "Because we're going to go and save Thomas, with or without your help." No one moved. No one made any sign that they were going to speak. "Alright then." Minho placed a hand on Newts shoulder, who looked over his shoulder to face him. "It's your call Teresa, how are we getting him back?" She let a small smile spread across her face, wiping at the last tears that were on her face.

"I think I have a plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the they've taken Thomas, Gally's left and the rest of the group are off to the capsite to help save them and get back their friend, told you more was happening this chapter! Anyway, let me know what you think, i'll try to update again as soon as I can  
> Come find me on tumblr at newtttheglue if you want


	8. Welcome to the Glade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She reached behind her and took the sword out of its holster on her back, swinging down hard at the gap between one of the guard’s helmet and bullet proof vest, cutting deep into their neck. They dropped to their knees on the floor, clutching at the wound, gasping for breath as the blood clogged up their airway.   
> Thomas didn't have time to stand around and watch because the rest of the guards sprang into action, running at the three of them. As he fought off the guards with his two rescuers, he knew that right then he had no choice but to trust them.
> 
> At least until he could find a way out himself and get to his group.

As Thomas came too, he tried opening his eyes but the pain from his head flared up so he screwed his eyes shut again. He attempted to lift his hand to his head but was stopped as he felt the rope tying his hands behind his back. 

His forced himself to open his eyes and take a look around his surroundings. He was sat on a cold tiled floor in a room he'd never been in before. He was leant up against what seemed to be the back wall of the room, in front of him were what seemed like hundreds of computer screens covering the far wall. The screens seemed to be showing different parts of the forest, but from where he was sat he couldn't make out where anything was. 

In front of the screens sat ten or so people, each one wearing a white lab coat and watching the many screens. Thomas still wasn't sure where he was, but he was starting to remember how he'd gotten there. All he knew was that he needed to get of there and find his friends again, make sure they were all safe. 

He took another look around the room and saw a door on the back wall that he was currently sat against. Using the back wall, he pushed himself up, feeling a bit dizzy from the pain in his head. He took a minute to steady himself and make sure that the workers hadn't realised he was awake yet before making his way over to the door. 

When he reached the door he noticed there was a glass panel in the centre. He leant against the door so that he could see out the window into the corridor outside. It seemed to go on forever, multiple doors leading off to other rooms lined the walls, but there were no people and that was the most important thing. 

With his hands tied behind his back, he had to use his elbow to push down the handle for the door and tried to pull it back. He silently thanked whoever it was that had left the door unlocked and, using his foot, pulled the door the rest of the way open and slipped out of the room, letting to door shut slowly behind him. 

He glanced back through the window to make sure that no one had heard him, but all the workers were still sat watching the screens, seemingly not noticing his departure. 

Thomas had no idea how to get out of the building, both ends of the corridor ended in a turn that led elsewhere. He tried his luck and turned and walked to the right, looking through the panels on the doors as he went, trying to find a way out. 

He'd been walking for no more than a minute when he heard footsteps coming down the corridor from ahead of him. Just in front of him was a deep set doorway so he ran forward, leaning back against the door. As he leant against the door it feel open and he stumbled back into the room, having to work to stop himself from falling over. 

The room he'd come into was free from any people, but the wall was lined with weapons. Knives, guns, swords and many other weapons all hung from the wall, free for anyone that walks in to take. 

Thomas turned so that he could take a lower hanging knife from the wall, he turned it round in his hands and used it to try and cut the rope from around his hands. It took him a fee minutes, and he almost dropped the knife more than once, but he finally freed his hands from their binds. 

He put the knife in the waist band of his trousers, pulling at the rope still round his hands so that he could be completely free from the binds. His wrists had turned red from the feel of the rope against his skin and they felt sore but he tried to ignore it, focusing on finding a way out of the building. 

He scanned the room and found a window large enough to climb through his up on the far wall. Thomas pushed a desk he found by the door over to the other side of the room so that it was underneath the window. He climbed on top and pushed at the window but the latch was locked shut, stopping it from opening. 

He slammed his fist against the window, annoyed that he couldn't use it the get out. He turned and slumped down against the wall, sat on top of the desk. He noticed a lab coat, like the ones being worn by the people in the other room, hanging on the back of the door and got an idea. 

He climbed down off the table and grabbed a gun from the wall. He pulled back the casing to see how many bullets it had left. He counted five. Five would work, he didn't want to have to use the gun but having it with him wouldn't hurt. He took the lab coat down from the door and put it on, pulling it close round him to try and hide his dirty clothes. 

He leant forward at the door to look out into the corridor to see that it was full of people all walking in the same direction. He swore to himself, no longer sure what to do. How was he meant to get out if hundreds of people were blocking the way?

Someone looked over into the room and waved at him, gesturing for him to come out. He didn't know what else to do so he left the room and joined the guy in the mass of people, hoping to blend in as much as possible. 

The man was quite tall and had short, blond hair. Thomas could tell that he was quite muscular from the way his lab coat looked quite tight around his arms. He was wearing a name tag which said 'Ben' on it in large black letters. The words 'WICKED employee' were written in a smaller font in the right hand corner. Thomas looked down at his own coat to see he was also wearing a name tag, his said 'Scott', he'd have to remember that. 

"Ava's team have finally brought one of the kids from the camp near the lake in. Isn't that exciting?" Thomas new that Ben was talking about him, but he tried to play along. 

"Really? That's great, what are they going to do with him now that he's here?" Ben shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. 

"Same as the rest of us, I guess." Thomas wanted to ask what he meant by that, but it was obviously something he was meant to know so he didn't push it. Ben nodded to a guard as they walked past but they didn’t seem to acknowledge him, just stood in the corridor moving people towards a large room at the end of the corridor. 

The room was filled with chairs, all on a slopping floor which lead to a large screen at the front. A few people were stood at the front of the room, talking. Thomas noticed one of them was Ava and panicked. If she saw him, his cover was going to be blown. 

"I think I’m going to sit at the back, get a better view of the presentation." He told Ben, expecting the man to leave him to sit elsewhere. Instead, Ben turned and followed him. 

"That’s a good idea... Sorry, what’s your name? I don't think I’ve seen you round here before." Thomas took a seat at the back of the hall, as far away from the front as he could get. 

"I'm Scott. They uh... They brought me in a few weeks ago." Ben nodded, taking a seat next to him.   
"That'd explain that nasty bruise on your head, I’m Ben by the way." Thomas didn't have to worry about trying to think of a way to answer because a man spoke up from the front of the room. He was quite tall, had dark brown hair and was wearing a light grey suit, unlike most of the workers in the room.  

"Everybody settle down, we need to get started so you can all get back to work. We don't want to keep you too long." The room started to go quiet as everybody settled in their seats, all facing the man from where he stood in front of the large screen. 

"As you all should know, we've been monitoring a campsite called ‘The Glade’ for a few months now and they've been coping very well on their own." Behind him on the screen a video feed of the camp appeared, showing a group of people sat around a bench, talking. A few of them even seemed to be laughing, if Thomas hadn’t known they were in the middle of a disease outbreak then he never would have known from the way they were all acting. 

"Up until now we've been able to leave them be, let them try to survive on their own but now we may have to intervene." The screen flicked forward to show another video feed, however this one was mostly blank with just a few gaps in the image. It looks as if someone had taped over the camera. Ben leant closer to him to whisper in his ear. 

"Looks like they've found out one of their cameras are working." Thomas glanced over at him, confused. He knew he probably shouldn’t be asking anything that he should probably already know, but he couldn’t help it, he was too curious about the whole situation. Anything he could find out to take back to his friends would help in the long run, so long as he didn’t get caught. 

"Do they not have a lot of cameras on site? Why would they do that?" Ben leant back in his seat, turning back to watch the screen which was now showing the inside of an empty building full of camping beds and clothes. 

"They don't have any power. We diverted what we could spare to the cameras on the sight, maybe they noticed something was up." Thomas guessed that made sense, and as two more blank videos rolled by on the screen, more people seemed to be noticing something was up with the footage as murmurs of confusion could be heard from around the hall. 

Ava walked up to the man giving the talk and spoke to him, something she said caused him to turn around and look at the screen. He seemed as shocked as the rest of the people in the hall when he saw the footage, turning back to address the now muttering crowd. 

"It's nothing to worry about." He informed them, loosening his tie slightly from around his neck. "Most of the cameras in the facility are still fully operational.” Thomas wasn’t convinced they would be for much longer, especially if they people at the camp had already started to notice that something was up. The group of people who stood in the corner of the room, who Thomas assumed were high up in WICKEDs rankings, were all talking amongst themselves.

“Please excuse me for just one moment.” The man went to join the group, leaving his post at the front of the hall. Thomas expected them to talk amongst themselves for a few minutes, but Ava was leading the conversation. A short, red headed woman seemed to be disagreeing with whatever it was she was saying, but she was being ignored.

“What do you suppose that’s all about?” A woman next to him asked. It took Thomas a few seconds to realise that she was actually talking to him. He had no idea what to say and as he looked over at the woman, she was looking at him as if she was trying to figure out who he was. Ben spoke up or him, freeing him from having to figure out how to answer the question himself.

“I guess there’s more to worry about than they’re letting on.” She seemed to take that as an answer and nodded, going back to watching the group at the front of the room. She kept glancing over at Thomas though, and it was starting to make him feel a bit nervous.

After a few more minutes, the group dispersed and the man returned to the front of the room, Ava following him.

“Ava has convinced me to move the residents pick up to three days from now, rather than next in a few weeks. There has been an incident just a few miles away from the camp and we don’t want to risk the same thing happening there, so they'll be here in the facility shortly.”

"Why would they push it forward? That makes no sense." Ben asked. He seemed to be talking to himself, voicing his opinion, so Thomas didn't bother trying to answer. He seemed worried about it though, as if it was something that would affect him in some way. 

Everyone in the hall started to talk about the change of plan just as the screen flicks to a shot of a group of people stood outside of a building. There are three men stood in front of the camera, each holding a gun and pointing forward at the others on the screen. 

It took Thomas a few seconds but he started to recognise them as Teresa, Brenda and Chuck. He instantly relaxed slightly, these clips must be a live feed and knowing that the three of them were safe lifted a weight from his chest that he didn't know he was carrying. As the three men lowered their guns and the one in the middle gestured for them to follow, Thomas expected to see Minho, Newt and Gally cut across the screen as the followed the rest of the group. But as they walked away the rest of them never came past the screen. 

He started to panic, but he tried not to let it show, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. Where could they have gotten to? Surly they made it to the camp as well, there’s no way they’d have gotten caught. The screen moved on and Thomas was left with his worries, he needed to get out of here.

"Can we have your attention please? Ava has an announcement for you all." The room fell silent as Ava took her place at the front of the room. She thanked the man as she turned to address the room. 

"As you know, my teams been tasked with watching the lakeside group. A few days ago, they were pushed out of their camp by a large group of Cranks, they lost two group members. One of their runners, Jorge." On the screen behind her, an image of Jorge appeared. He was sat up in the watchtower, talking to Brenda as the surveyed the area. In the chaos of what had happened, Thomas had almost forgotten that Jorge was gone. "And their leader, Alby." The image of Jorge changed to show one of Alby. He was in the hut they'd built, keeping out of the rain with Newt and Minho. Thomas felt his chest tighten at the sight, he hadn’t really been given chance to morn over the loss of his friends, but seeing Alby up on the screen in front of him made him realise how much he missed him. They may have only been friends for two years, but that was two years that he was going to cherish and remember him by.

Thomas lost his train of thought as he stared at the pictures in confusion, he had no idea how they'd gotten those images in the first place. First they knew Newt's name and now they had photos of them in their camp? What were WICKED up to?

"This is a sad development, we acknowledge that both boys would have made a great addition to our organisation." The picture of Alby was taken down from the screen, showing a blank white screen in its place. "We lost the rest of the group for a day but fortunately we managed to find one member of the group early this morning." Murmurs broke out between the crowds of people, all trying to guess who they thought it was that had been brought in. 

"I bet you it's the one with the limp, there’s no way he could make it that long outside the camp." Thomas heard a woman in front of him say. He had to tone down his urge to tell her how wrong she was about Newt, that he was strong and could survive out in the forest far longer than she ever could. 

"He was very scared since he'd lost the rest of his group, and he'd hit his head pretty hard so he's still sleeping at the minute, but we've managed to bring Thomas into the facility." Ava seemed to be enjoying the attention, a small smile spreading across her face as a round of applause sounded.

A picture of Thomas appeared up on the screen. He was sat on a log near the campfire, Newt on the floor sat between his legs, orange light flicking across his face. Newt was leaning back against his chest, laughing at something someone across the fire had said as Thomas played with Newts hair. That'd been only a few weeks ago, he could remember it happening. 

He ducked down a bit in his chair, suddenly realising that anyone who turned around now would see him and know exactly who he was. Ben glanced down at him, but made no sign to say he recognised him as the boy in the picture, just turned back to listen to the rest of the talk. 

"We're still waiting on a space in the cell blocks to keep him until we've chad a chance to check him over, but it looks like he's not-" She was cut off by an alarm sounding, red lights flashing in the room. The screen changed to show security footage of Thomas walking down the corridor with Ben, the video feed was zoomed in onto the two of them. 

"WARNING, SUBJECT ESCAPED. WARNING, SUBJECT ESCAPED." The words repeated over and over from the speakers on the walls, mixed with the sounds of the sirens it was almost deafening. Ben grabbed hold of Thomas' arm and pulled him up, dragging him out of the room along with the rest of the people from the hall. He moved close to him to talk in his ear. 

"It wasn’t meant to happen like this, but just walk, keep your head down." Thomas ducked his head, hunching his shoulders to keep his face out of view. 

"Why are you helping me?" Thomas was confused as to what was going on, it was clear that Ben knew who he was, maybe had done the whole time, but why was he trying to help him to escape?

"I'll explain everything later, Thomas, just walk." Ben walked ahead of him and took a left turn at the end of the corridor, Thomas followed him, looking back just before he turned the corner to see they were being followed by a group of people in riot gear. He sped up so that he was walking in line with Ben, pushing past a few people to get there. 

"Ben, wherever it is that we're going, we need to get there now." Ben looked over his shoulder just as the guards rounded the corner. Panic washed over his face as he took hold of Thomas' hand and pulled, running towards the end of the corridor. Thomas ran after him, being dragged along through the corridors as Ben didn’t release his grip.

They took a right turn and then another left until they came face to face with a set of lift doors. Ben let go of his hand to rummage around in his pockets, looking for something.

Thomas looked back down the corridor, the group of guards hadn't caught up to them yet but they were likely to get there soon. He glanced back at Ben to see him still looking through his pockets for something. 

"What's the hold up?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the end of the corridor. 

"I can't find my key card."

"What?” Thomas asked, panic now showing in his voice. “How can you not find it?!" Ben turned round to glare at him. 

"I'm trying to help you here." The guards rounded the corner, once they saw the two of them stood by the metal doors, the three guards in the front of the group set off in a sprint towards them. 

"I've got it!" There was am audible click as Ben swiped his card over the lifts card reader and the lift doors started to open. Thomas felt a hand grab the back of his coat as he got pulled backwards into the lift. He tripped and stumbled a few steps, falling to lean back against the wall of the lift as the doors started to close, they felt painstakingly slow as the guards drew closer to them.

“Shut the doors!” Thomas shouted.

“What do you think I’m trying to do here, Thomas?” Ben shouted back, pressing frantically at the button to shut the lift doors. One of the guards made it inside just as the doors were closing, jumping at Thomas, trying to pin him to the wall. 

Thomas ducked to the right, taking the knife from his trousers and missing the attack from the guard by a second, just as the doors closed. The lift lurched as it started to move down. He span round, pointing the knife at the guard as they turned back to face him, stopping them in their tracks.

Thomas frowned as he heard Ben laughing behind him. He was leant back against the lift doors, a big smile on his face as he watched to two of them.

“You’re scaring him.” Ben addressed the guard, managing to calm down his laughter, the smile not leaving his face. The guard took off their helmet, revealing a girl who seemed to be about his age. She had pale skin and long blond hair tied back off her face in a plait that ran down the length of her back. She had a sword hanging down from her back and a gun attached at her hip. She smiled at him, pushing away a few lengths of hair that had fallen over her face.

"Sorry if I scared you, Tommy, I got a bit excited there." Thomas didn't drop the knife, pointing it at the girl’s throat. 

"Don't call me that." The girl raised her hands, taking a step away from him. 

"Sorry, won't happen again." When Thomas realised she wasn't going attack him again he slowly lowered the knife, but kept a firm grip on it. The girl let out a breath of relief and held out her hand to him. "I'm Sonya." Thomas didn't shake her hand so after a few seconds she lowered it, she glanced over at Ben who just shrugged, pushing himself away from the wall. 

"Why are you both helping me?" Ben moved so he was stood next to Sonya, taking the gun that she passed him from her holster. 

"We'll explain everything once we've gotten you out, we haven’t got time to tell you now, but until then you've just got to trust us." The bell sounded to let them know they'd reached the floor they wanted. 

"Follow us and stay close, greenie. Don't want to go getting yourself killed before we can save you." Sonya put her helmet back on, covering her face from anyone that may be on the other side of the doors. 

As the lift doors opened a group of guards stood waiting for them, they all raised their weapons at the three of them, ready to attack at any moment. Sonya raised her hands, taking a step forward out of the lift to stand in front of the guards to address them as she spoke. 

"I've apprehended the subject and the man who helped him, let me take them to the cells." The guards showed no sign of moving to let them past, so Sonya sighed, taking off her helmet and throwing it to the ground. "Worth a shot." She reached behind her and took the sword out of its holster on her back, swinging down hard at the gap between one of the guard’s helmet and bullet proof vest, cutting deep into their neck. They dropped to their knees on the floor, clutching at the wound, gasping for breath as the blood clogged up their airway.    

Thomas didn't have time to stand around and watch because the rest of the guards sprang into action, running at the three of them. As he fought off the guards with his two rescuers, he knew that right then he had no choice but to trust them.

At least until he could find a way out himself and get to his group.

* * *

By the time they made it to the campsite, Newt was exhausted. With Gally and Thomas gone, Minho injured and Teresa still trying to hold it together, he’d insisted that he was capable of walking just fine by himself. The pain in his leg hadn’t been that bad as they’d started, but soon it was becoming much worse and he was sure that if he wasn’t so determined to get to the campsite he would have just passed out on the spot.

There was a long dirt track road leading up to a set of wooden gates, there was a sign that had been put up just a few feet in front of them. It must have been put up recently, it was handmade and read:

 

**Strangers are not welcome here**

**Turn back now**

 

Newt stopped walking when he reached the sign, using it to lean against so he could take some pressure off his foot. Minho stopped next to him, reading the sign.

“Strangers not welcome? What kind of sick bastard doesn’t want to help people to survive?”

“Maybe one who doesn’t have enough supplies for the people they’ve already helped.” Brenda suggested as she walked past, joining Teresa at the main gates.

“Have I told you recently that I hate her?” Minho looked at Newt as he spoke. Newt let out a short laugh, watching the three at the gates.

“Not recently, but you have told me a fair few times now.” Minho huffed, leaning on his arms on the top of the sign.

“Yeah well, it’s true.” Brenda looked back at the two of them and rolled her eyes, her arms folded across her chest. It was common knowledge that Minho and Brenda didn’t really get along that well, they never had.

“If you two are done complaining, we could use some help here.” As Brenda turned back to the gates, Minho made a face at the back of her head but went to go and join them anyway. Newt huffed out a laugh at his friend and followed, screwing his face up at the pain but doing his best to ignore it, they had bigger things to worry about.

As he got to the gates, he saw that they were locked shut with a length of chain and a padlock. There was no way they were going to get them open.

“We’re going to have to climb over.” Teresa stated, turning round to face the group. The fence wasn’t that high, maybe about a few feet taller than Newt, so he could reach the top if he jumped for it.

“There’s no way I’m going to be able to climb over that.” Chuck pointed out.

“We’ll help you over, Chuck. Don’t worry about it.” Teresa told him, looking over at Minho for help. “Do you want to help me give him a boost over or what?” Minho nodded and walked over to the gates, standing opposite Teresa. He locked his fingers together and got down on one knee, Teresa mimicking him.

“Just stand on our hands and we’ll push you up.” Chuck took a tentative step forward, leaning against Minho’s shoulder as he stepped up onto his hand with one foot. “You ready?” Minho asked. Chuck nodded and put his other hand on Teresa’s shoulder. “Okay, push up on three.” He looked over at Teresa to make sure she was ready as he started counting. “One. Two. Three.” Chuck stepped up with his other foot onto Teresa’s hand and together the two of them stood, pushing Chuck up so that he was able to grab hold of the top of the wall.

“I’ve got it!” Brenda moved so that she was stood behind them, ready to catch Chuck if he fell backwards.

“Nice one, Chuck. Just pull yourself up and over.” Chuck pulled himself up the wall, using his feet to push against the wood. He climbed over the wall so that he was sat on top, his legs hanging over the other side. “Now you’ve just got to jump.” Chuck looked over his shoulder so he could see them.

“I don’t know, it’s pretty high.”

“Just jump man, we haven’t got all day.” Minho spoke up to him, his hands resting against his hips, squinting up at the sun from where it was peeking through the clouds.

“Yeah, no shit.” Chuck muttered to himself. He moved round so that could turn to face the wall, hanging off by his hands. He let go of the wall and they heard a thud a second later. Newt moved so that he could see through the small gap in the gates to where Chuck was sat on the floor.

“You okay?” Chuck looked over to him and gave him a thumbs up. Newt smiled to himself and turned back to the others. “He’s good.”

“You want some help getting over.” Minho looked over at Brenda, offering her a hand. She just shook her head.

“No, I think I’ve got it.” She moved closer to the gates, jumping up to reach for the top and grabbing hold, using her feet to push herself up and over the wall to land near Chuck.

“Show off.” Minho called over to her. Teresa rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head. She followed suit and climbed up over the gates too. Minho was about to climb over too, but Newt heard a noise, grabbing hold of his friends arm so stop him.

“Whats-” Newt shook his head, holding up a hand for Minho to be quiet. He moved back to the gap in the fence, this time he tried to make sure he couldn’t be seen through the gap but could still get a good luck at what was going on.

On the other side of the fence, Teresa, Brenda and Chuck were face to face with three men, each of them holding a gun and pointing it at them. Chuck had gotten up off the floor and was stood behind Brenda and Teresa, away from the men.

“Can you not read?” The man in the middle asked. He was quite tall and had dark hair, but his most noticeable feature were the scars across the left side of his face and neck, they looked as if they’d come from a burn. “It says that strangers aren’t welcome here.”

“We know, we’re sorry. But we had to come here, it was important.” Teresa took a step towards the men, but the man with the scars moved so that his gun pointed straight at Teresa’s head. She stopped still and raised her hands, showing she wasn’t a threat. One of the other men lowered his weapon and moved closer to the man with the scars to talk to him.

“Winston, maybe we should hear them out.” The man – Winston – turned to address him, but didn’t drop his weapon.

“What is the point in having the sign to keep people out, if we’re just going to let them in anyway, Jeff?” Jeff sighed and took a step back, raising his gun again. He was a lot shorter than Winston, with dark skin and even darker hair.

“Fair point.” Winston took the safety off his gun and took a step towards Teresa, pressing the barrel of the gun to her head. Teresa didn’t move, staring straight at him.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“To warn you about WICKED.” Winston frowned, cocking his head to the side slightly. As Newt watched him, he noticed the small smile that was playing on his face, Winston was enjoying this and it made Newt feel sick.

“WICKED? What the hell is that?” Teresa slowly lowered his arms, but stood her ground.

“They’re an organisation or something, I don’t know, but they’ve already tried to kill us and we heard them say they were coming here in a few days to attack you too.” Winston stared at her for a few seconds before his serious expression broke into one of amusement as he started to laugh in her face, lowering the gun.

“You really expect us to believe that?”

“It’s true!” Chuck spoke up from behind Brenda, moving round so that he had a better view of what was going on. “They took her brother this morning.” The man on the far left of the group had his weapon trained on Chuck, following him as he moved. Newt was ready to climb over the wall and help protect Chuck from the man but he held himself back, revealing that they were there now might just make the situation worse.

“Is that true?” Winston addressed Teresa, she nodded. “How many Cranks have you killed?”

“I’m sorry?” Newt could hear the confusion in Teresa’s voice, he was pretty confused himself. What did that have to do with anything?

“The Cranks, how many of them he you killed.”

“I don’t know, it’s been months, you expect me to have kept track this whole time?” Winston raised his gun again, pointing it at Teresa’s chest.

“Watch it, girl. I’m trying to be nice here.”

“Probably about a fifty? Maybe more, I don’t know.” Newt had never really thought about it, but Teresa was probably lying about that. They’d come across Cranks so many times in the first few months of doing runs that the real answer was probably somewhere in the hundreds.

“Why?”

“Why do you need to know?” Winston took a step towards her, glaring daggers.

“Just answer the damn question. It’s not hard.”

“We got attacked recently, our camp got overrun, and if I hadn’t killed them we would be dead right now.” Winston looked past her to look at Brenda and Chuck, addressing them.

“Is that true?” Newt positioned himself so that he could see Brenda, watching her reply.

“Yes. It was my fault that it happened.” Newt hated that she still felt that, but he couldn’t help but still think that it was true. If Brenda hadn’t shot Jorge, they might not still be in this situation. Winston seemed to consider this for a minute before asking his next question, this time asking the group as a whole, rather than just Teresa.

“Have any of you ever killed another human being?” Teresa and Chuck both shook their heads in response.

“I have.” Brenda answered. “And before you ask why, it was my cousin, Jorge. He’d been bitten. I was just putting him out of his misery.”

“What are you three doing?” A voice asked from behind the group, from Newt’s position behind the fence he couldn’t see who it was that had spoken, but he was thankful for their appearance. Minho moved closer to him so that he too could look through the gap and watch what was going on, up until then he’d just been hovering behind him, waiting to see what would happen.

Winston turned round to see who the new arrival was and lowered his gun, putting it in the waistband of his jeans. He seemed to shrink in on himself slightly, obviously intimidated by the new arrival.

“Harriet, we were just-”

“Torturing these poor people for no reason?” Winston opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the woman – Harriet. “No, don’t try and make any excuses, they obviously have a reason for being here.”

“They said they’re here to warn us about some people called WICKED.” Newt wished he could see Harriet because as soon as the words left Jeff’s mouth, silence was followed, the men all looking in her direction in confusion.

“They’re telling the truth.” Winston frowned, looking over at Jeff in confusion. Jeff looked just as confused as he did.

“What are you talking about?” The other man addressed her, he’d stayed silent up until now. “How can you possibly know that?”

“You’ve just got to trust me on this, they’re telling the truth. Let them in.”

“Do we even have room for three more people? Where are they going to go?”

“Five people, Winston.” Minho turned to look at Newt, a confused expression on his face. Somehow Harriet had seen them and knew they were there, yet the men had no idea. “We’ll make room.”

Newt could hear footsteps against the dirt as she walked away from them. Each of the men all dropped their guns, putting them away.

“Go tell your friends to climb over, I’m not opening the gate for them.” Winston reluctantly told Teresa, following Harriet as she walked back into the campsite. Teresa went over to the gap in the fence so that she could look through to talk to the two of them.

“Newt, you going to be okay getting over?”

“He’ll be fine, Teresa,” Minho spoke up from where he was leant against the fence, facing Newt. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, but just be careful alright?” She asked, she sounded really worried for him, but he wasn’t really sure why. It wasn’t as it climbing over the gate was going to be that difficult.

“Yeah, I will.” Minho climbed up and over the fence first, pulling himself up and landing on the other side with a thud. Newt approached the wall and jumped, grabbing the top of the wall. He tried to push up with his feet, but as soon as he put pressure on his bad leg, pain flared up and he cried out, losing his grip on the wall. He landed on the floor, he now understood why Teresa had told him to be careful.

Minho appeared on the other side of the gap, pushing Teresa out of the way.

“Newt, you okay? What happened?” Newt leant his arms against the wood of the gates, leaning his head against them, his eyes screwed up shut to stop himself from crying from the pain. It was never usually this bad, but the past few days had really started to take their toll. “Newt? Please answer me.” Newt turned his head to the side, he couldn’t see his friend from this angle, but he knew Minho would hear him better.

“I’m fine, just slipped.” Newt heard Minho’s sigh of relief. The gate shook and he took a step back, wincing as he did so. He looked up to see that Minho was sat on top of the gate, straddling it. He reached down a hand for Newt.

“Figured you could use some help getting up.” Newt smiled up at him, taking the set forward to jump up and grab the top of the gate. Minho reached down to grab his arms and help to pull him up. Newt pushed off the wall with his good foot and eventually made it to the top, sitting up next to Minho.

He looked down at the rest of the group and two men that were still with them. Jeff walked over to the gates and offered him a hand to get down. He ignored it, turning so that he could drop down carefully from the gates to the floor, leaning back against it once he’d landed so he could take the weight of his leg.

Minho dropped down next to him from the gates, landing next to him. Jeff lowered his hand, taking a step away from the two of them as Teresa came over. Together Minho and Teresa each took one of Newt’s arms and he put them round their shoulders, their arms coming to wrap round his waist. Since Minho was a bit taller than Teresa, he was at a slight angle but he didn’t care, right now this was the only way he thought he could actually get anywhere.

“Follow me.” Jeff moved to the front of the group and walked off into the campsite. Brenda and Chuck moved first, the rest of them following behind.

It took them no more than five minutes of following the long dirt road before they reached the campsite, there was a large group of people waiting for them to get there, all stood in front of a large building. Winston was stood in front of the group. He had his arms crossed over his chest, frowning; he didn’t look too happy about them being there.

A woman with dark skin and a mane of long, curly hair approached them as they came to a stop in front of the group. Newt didn’t know for sure, but he guessed that she must have been Harriet.

“Welcome to the Glade.” As Newt looked around at the annoyed group of people in front of him, he felt nothing close to welcome in this place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters the longest one I've written so far, Thomas' side was a lot of fun to write, but I really struggled with the rest of the group, hope their side doesn't seem too bad but I just couldn't figure out how to make it any better.   
> But anyway, I've introduced some new characters into the mix now, some of the girls from group B are here and now some more of the gladers too, which is fun!   
> As always, let me know what you thought and thanks for reading!


	9. You're not welcome here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What the hell do you mean for now?” Harriet didn't even flinch, her face remaining expressionless. She moved forward so that she was closer to Minho, almost pressed against his chest. Newt could see Minho tense up, but he knew his friend wasn’t about to back out now.   
> “We help you two heal, you tell us everything you know about these WICKED people, we feed you and then you’re gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies that it took me so long to update this, I've got no excuse other than I had a mental block and I just couldn't figure out how to write down what I wanted to say. The next chapter shouldn't take as long to upload, but I can't make any promises.   
> Anyway, this is a slightly longer chapter than usual to make up for it, hope you like it!

The people of The Glade were not very welcoming; they gave the group a wide berth as they made their way through the camp, escorted by Harriet. Most of the camp retreated into the large building they’d first come past, while a few other returned to the picnic benches that were set out in the space just outside.

The camp was much larger than theirs had ever been, from the path Newt could see at least twenty tents all huddled together in a field just past the building, clothes hanging from wires between them blowing wildly in the cold wind. Most of the people Newt could see were wrapped up in large coats and scarves, huddled together against the cold.

There was a large fire in the centre of the camp, much bigger than the one they’d built at their own camp. There were logs and chairs surrounding it, a large pile of dry logs were stacked up a few feet away. A few men were tending to the fire, adding a few of the logs to keep it burning. Newt could feel the heat radiating from it as they walked past, and in that moment he wanted nothing more than to sit down and sleep in the warmth, but something told him that wasn’t going to be happening any time soon.  

Harriet was leading them towards a much smaller building than the one they’d first seen; boards were covering up all the window, shattered glass laying on the floor beneath them. The flat roof of the building was occupied by a few chairs and a box full of weapons. A man and a woman were stood up on top of the roof, both aiming their guns down at the group as they approached. So much for a warm welcoming, Newt thought.

“Harriet, you know we don’t have the room for all of them.” The man shouted down, aiming his gun right at Minho’s head, Newt felt Minho tense up against his side, gripping onto his waist a little tighter. Harriet stooped walking a few feet away from the building, looking up at the two of them.

“Aris, drop the gun.” She told him, her voice sounded calm as she spoke but Newt could feel the order behind her words. There was no doubting that she was the leader of this camp.

“You can’t seriously be letting them stay?” Aris asked, refusing the drop his weapon. “They broke in here!”

“And they’ve apologised for that, they can stay.” Harriet insisted, sounding rather bored with the conversation. “Now drop the gun. You too Rachel.” The woman - Rachel - that was stood next to Aris reluctantly lowered her gun, putting the strap over her shoulder. When Aris didn’t drop his weapon she sighed, grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him over to the other side of the roof, away from the group.

As soon as Aris was gone from sight, Newt felt Minho relax under his arm.

“Where are you taking us?” Minho asked, Newt had been wondering the same thing. They’d crossed all the way to the other side of the camp, it must have been important.

Harriet ignored his question though, instead choosing to address the whole group. “Just wait here, I’ll be back in a minute.” She turned her back on them, pushing open the door of the building and walking inside, leaving them stood outside in the cold.

“I don’t trust them.” Minho stated after a few minutes of waiting, ducking out from under Newt’s arm so that he could stretch his back. The loud crack of bone made Newt cringe, he couldn’t help find it funny that he’s grown accustomed to the sight of blood and severed limbs, but the sound of Minho cracking his bones still managed to make him feel sick.

“Minho, you don’t trust anyone.” Minho glared at him, but he knew there wasn’t any heat behind it.

“You can’t tell me that you trust them, Newt.” He didn’t trust them, after everything that had happened he really didn’t. But right now they were their best chance at staying alive for a few more days until they could go and get Thomas back. “They were going to shoot Teresa and Chuck!”

“And Me!” Brenda added, the annoyance clear in her tone at being forgotten.

Minho just scoffed, ignoring her. “Oh whatever, you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do.” Newt replied. “I also know that if they’re climbed over the walls of _our_ camp you’d have done the exact same thing.” Newt knew exactly how it would have gone down, because the same thing had happened when Gally had shown up. He’d climbed up over the wall, covered in blood and dirt and threatened to kill all of them if they couldn’t prove they weren’t infected. They’d retaliated with weapons of their own, at the time it was five against one and there was no way they were going to let some guy they didn’t know harm one of their own. Reacting with violence was starting to become everyone’s first idea.

“I don’t care about what _we’d_ do.” Minho snapped at him. He seemed to regret it straight away though, letting out a sigh. He ran a hand through his hair, pushing the strands off of his forehead. “I just… I don’t trust them.”

“He has a point, Newt.” Teresa pointed out; Newt sighed, shifting his weight a little so he was leant more against Teresa’s side.

“I know that, okay? Look, I don’t trust them either, but they’re all we’ve got till we figure out how to get Thomas back.”

“If you’ve lost your friend, you’re not going to get him back.” Newt looked up to see the woman - Rachel – sat on the edge of the roof, her gun laying across her lap. “Oh don’t look so surprised, you knew we were up here and you’re not exactly being quiet.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to listen.” Chuck called up, Newt had almost forgotten that he was here. He was still carrying the bag on his back, Newt’s sword held tightly in his hands; he looked so small like that, buried in all his layers of clothing.  Sometimes Newt forgot he was only fourteen, he shouldn’t have to be dealing with any of this, none of them should.

Rachel just shrugged, jumping down from the roof and landing on the ground with a thud. “Got nothing better to do and besides, we don’t trust you either, got to make sure you’re not plotting to kill us in our sleep.” She pulled the hood of her jumper up over her head as a strong gust of wind blew over them, causing Newt to shiver against the cold.

“Where’d you guys come from anyway?” She asked, leaning up against the wall of the building. “Never saw any of you out in the city and trust me, we’ve been out there a lot.” When none of them said anything she just smiled at them, hanging the strap of her gun back over her shoulder. “Right, I forgot, you don’t trust me.”

“And they have no reason too.” Their attention was drawn away when Harriet opened the door, leaning up against the door frame. “Your injured can come in now, the rest of you can stay out here.” Rachel pushed off against the wall and reached out to take Newt’s arm so she could help him through the door but Teresa refused to release her grip around him, putting herself between them.

“Woah, wait! If you’re taking them then I’m coming in there too.” Harriet shook her head, standing up straight in the doorway.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that.” Teresa grabbed hold of Rachel’s arm just before she took hold of Newt, pulling her arm away from him. She glared up at her, tightening her hold on Newt’s waist.

“Like hell I’m letting you take them.” Newt took hold of Teresa’s hand, trying to get her to release her grip on Rachel. Teresa glanced over at him, releasing her grip on Rachel’s arm. “Newt, please.” She insisted, frowning at him. He could see how panicked she was, but they needed to work with the people of The Glade if they were going to get anywhere.

“Teresa, it’s fine.”

“No it’s not!” She snapped, “I’ve already lost Tom, I’m not leaving you too.” She turned to look at Minho, her eye’s pleading with him. “ _Any_ of you.” Minho came over to stand by Newt’s side, wrapping his arm round his waist so that Newt could release his hold on Teresa.

“I promise you we’re going to come back, okay?” Brenda came over to join Teresa, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Teresa sighed, crossing her arms over her chest, nodding at him.

“Just be careful, okay?”

Minho led the two of them into the building after Harriet, who shut the door and locked it behind them. The room was quite small; three beds lined the far wall with small tables on either side, each one covered in small lit candles to light up the room.

There were two other people in the room, Newt recognised the first man as Jeff, one of the men that had threatened them when they first arrived. The other seemed to be quite young, he couldn’t have been more than a few years older than Chuck, with shaggy black hair that fell over his eyes. He hung back on the other side of the room behind Jeff, seemingly wary of the new arrivals.

Minho helped Newt to sit down on the edge of one of the beds, the sudden release of pressure on his leg caused him to sigh, closing his eyes for a few seconds. It suddenly struck him that he hadn’t sat on a bed in eight months, it was so much more comfortable that he remembered it being. He had a sudden urge to just lay down and sleep for a few days, but as he opened his eyes to see the three strangers watching him, he knew that wasn’t going to be happening any time soon.

Minho didn’t seem to have the same issue though, he flopped down on the bed next to him, hands behind his head under the pillow, a smile on his face.

“I think I could get used to this.”

“Well don’t, you’re not staying long.” Minho sat up suddenly at Harriet’s response, his happy demeanour completely gone.

“But you said we could stay?”

“For now.” Minho got up of the bed and walked over to her, his hands clenching into fists. Newt knew he should probably get up and stop him, but he was so tired and his leg was throbbing with pain, he just couldn’t bring himself to get up after him.

“Minho, don’t.” He warned, but Minho ignored him, standing close in front of Harriet, his voice raised as he spoke.

“What the hell do you mean _for now_?” Harriet didn’t even flinch, her face remaining expressionless. She moved forward so that she was closer to Minho, almost pressed against his chest. Newt could see Minho tense up, but he knew his friend wasn’t about to back out now.

“We help you two heal, you tell us everything you know about these WICKED people, we feed you and then you’re gone.”

“And what if we say no?” Harriet reached down pulled a knife out of her boot, she grabbed Minho by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward, pressing the knife against his throat. Newt made a move to get up but there were suddenly hands on his shoulders pushing him back down, he’d been too busy watching the two of them that he hadn’t noticed Jeff cross the room.

“Either you leave of your own accord, or we make you leave.” The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds until Harriet dropped the knife, putting it back into her boot. Minho out a breath of air and took a step away from her, rubbing at his neck.

“Fine, but when WICKED come to kill you you’re going to regret not having us around.” Newt watched as Harriet’s expression faltered, a small frown forming on her face. Minho came back over to the bed, taking a seat next to Newt, squeezing his shoulder gently as he sat down.

“What are you talking about?” She asked, watching the two of them warily. “They don’t even know we’re here.” Minho shook his head, smiling up at her.

“You’re wrong, they’re planning an attack.” Harriet crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes at Minho.

“And how are we supposed to believe you?” Minho shrugged, leaning back on his hands.

“You’re not. But if you help to fix his leg, I’ll tell you everything.”

“Minho, we can’t just-” Minho cut him off, completely ignoring him.

“Do we have a deal?” Harriet’s gaze flicked from Minho, down to Newt’s leg and back again; her expression remained as blank as ever.

“Jeff, Clint?” She spoke to the other two in the room, not taking her eyes off Minho. “Fix his leg, come and fetch me when you’re done. We have a lot to talk about.” With one last look over the two of them, Harriet left them in the small room, slamming the door shut behind them. He heard Minho let out a sigh of relief as he fell back against the bed, rubbing his hands over his eyes.

Newt didn’t know what to think about that, they’d all but been told they were going to get thrown out to the Cranks and Minho had promised to tell them everything they knew about WICKED? Granted, it wasn’t much, but they had enough knowledge of their plans that they might be able to help save the people at The Glade. He’d wanted to help them before, but now it was different. Now they were going to leave them to die, now they didn’t deserve their help.

“We’re going to need you to move up the bed?” Newt was snapped out of his thoughts when the younger boy - Harriet had called him Clint - spoke to him. He looked nervous, asking him as a question rather than telling him to move, but Newt complied anyway. Shuffling back up the bed towards the headrest, when Minho realised what was happening he got up and moved to sit on the edge of the bed to the right of them, watching the two men carefully.

“What are you going to do to him?” Minho asked, leaning forward with his arms on his knees to get as close to the bed as he could whilst still staying out of the way. “If you make it worse I swear I’m gonna-” Jeff spoke over him, sitting down on the edge of the bed near Newt’s leg.

“Just because Harriet want’s you gone, doesn’t mean we don’t still want to help you.” Minho let out a huff of breath, sinking down in his seat a little. Newt would have smiled at him if Jeff hadn’t put pressure on his leg at that moment. He let out a shout of pain and tried to pull his leg away from his hold, only for Jeff to grab hold of it and hold him down. Clint - Who was stood at the top of the bed - held down his shoulders to stop him from moving.

Newt could feel the tears welling up in his eyes as he screwed his eyes shut, biting down hard on the inside of his lip to stop himself from crying. Jeff loosened the grip he had on his leg and Newt let out a sigh of relief, reaching a hand out towards Minho who came rushing to his side, gripping his hand tightly.

“What the hell did you do that for?” He shouted at Jeff, who had gone over to the other side of the room to retrieve a bag. He brought it back over to the bed and placed in on the mattress by Newt’s feet.

“I’m sorry, I just needed to know what I was dealing with.”

“Well you could have just fucking asked! Asshole.”

“The bone hasn’t been set properly, it’s not healing right. The way I see it, you have two options. First option, I can bandage it up best I can, give you some pain meds and you can be on your way.” Newt wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that, wasn’t the whole point of this to help fix his leg, not keep it the same as it already was.

“What’s the second option?” He asked, knowing already that it was probably going to be worse than the first and by the look on Jeff’s face, he was right.

“I can re-set the bone.” He told him, looking between the two of them. Newt couldn’t say he was surprised, he couldn’t think of any other options. Either he could live with the pain forever, or he could try and get rid of it. It didn’t take him long to decide what is was he wanted to do.

“Do it.” He could see the shock on Minho’s face as he spoke, his friend obviously thought he was going to go with the first option and he understand why, this could be dangerous.

“Newt, do you really think-” Newt cut him off, he knew he needed to do this. Sure, it was going to hurt like hell, but if he meant he’d be able to walk without being in pain then he wanted to do it. He needed to do it because what use was he ever going to be if he needed help to get anywhere.

“Please, before I change my mind.” Jeff nodded, rolling up the leg of Newt’s trousers to get a better look at his leg. Newt closed his eyes, leaning his head back down against the pillows. He felt hands on his shoulders again and he assumed it was Clint, getting ready to hold him down if necessary. He felt a shiver run down his spine when Jeff took hold of his leg, his hands cold.

“Now this might hurt a bit.” Newt scoffed, tightening his hold on Minho’s hand.

“Understatement of the century.” He muttered to himself. He could have sworn he heard Minho laugh at that, but soon his thoughts were just filled with pain as Jeff pulled hard on his leg. He screamed as the pain shot up his leg, arching his body of the bed; Clint pressed down hard on his shoulders to keep him down, someone pressed their arm down across his chest but he didn’t know who it was.

As the darkness washed over him and the pain began to subside, he really couldn’t bring himself to care.

* * *

 

Cranks don't feel pain the same way people do. You chop off their arm? They may falter for a second but they keep coming at you, dangerous as ever. Thomas used to think there was nothing more terrifying than that, facing off a hoard of Cranks, but he was wrong. Fighting against people was so much worse.

Unlike Cranks, people could be skilled fighters, they knew what they were doing. Thomas was learning that the hard way, trying to duck under punches and step away from knife swipes, all while attempting to fight back against the guards and actually get a hit in where it counts.

With his knife in hand, Thomas tried to find a weakness in the guard who he was fighting’s armour like Sonya had done, aiming his hits at the neck but failing to reach the target each time. Where the Cranks were slow and clumsy, the guard was skilled and fast, nearly all of his advances were working. The guard aimed a punch at Thomas’ chest, causing him to stumble back a few steps, knocking the air out of his lungs. Thomas dropped his knife to the floor as he tripped, hitting his back against the wall behind him. The guard grabbed his knife from the ground as Thomas tried sucking in a breath of air.

He only had a few seconds to get his breath back before the guard took a swing at his head. Thomas ducked under his arm and moved beside the guard; he kicked out, hitting his foot hard against the guards knee cap. He heard a crack and the guard let out a yell of pain, his leg giving way causing him to fall to the floor, relinquishing his hold on the knife. Thomas grabbed the knife and brought it down hard in the side of the guard’s neck.

He heard the guard have an intake of breath as the blade went through, blood started to trickle down his neck as he gasped for breath. He reached out for Thomas as he pulled out the knife, causing the blood to flow faster. Thomas tried to step away but the guard grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled him down, trying to grab the knife from him. Thomas slipped and fell hard on his knees, the guard used this opportunity to grab at his neck, but he was growing weak as more blood spilled from the wound. Thomas grabbed his hands and pushed him away, hard against the wall. The guards head slammed back and he sagged against the wall.

Thomas barely had time to register what he’d done when someone grabbed him from behind and he was suddenly being pulled backwards. He turned, ready to attack whoever it was that had taken hold of his shirt, but he came face to face with Ben and soon he was being pulled along the now empty corridor.

They followed the twists and turns of the lower floors of WICKEDs buildings, following Sonya as she ran as fast as she could. She stopped as they reached a set of double doors that reached up as high as the ceiling, Thomas thought it must have been at least double his height.

Sonya grabbed her key card out from a pocket in her jacket sleeve and swiped it over the scanner whilst Ben stood watch. It made a low buzzing sound and a red light flashed at the top of it. Sonya frowned and tried again, but she got the same reaction as before.

"Ben, it's not working." Ben glanced back at her, panic evident in his features.

"What do you mean it's not working?"

"I mean it's not working, idiot." Sonya rolled her eyes, swiping the key card over the reader once more. The light flashed red for the third time. "The doors won't open."

"They must have revoked your access, try mine." Ben passed his key card over to Sonya, who just dropped hers to the floor; since it no longer worked there wasn't much point in keeping it.

She swiped Ben's card over the reader and, for a few seconds, nothing happened. Thomas hoped that meant they were going to get in, but they had no such luck. The device buzzed and the light started to flash red at them again. Sonya groaned and threw Bens card to the floor, bashing her fist against the door in frustration.

"What are we going to do now?" Thomas asked, he really hoped this wasn't as far as their plan went. Sonya let out one more frustrated hit at the doors before she took a step back, hands linked on top of her head.

"There's got to be another way in there." Thomas started to panic when he began to hear footsteps behind them, a new group of guards were coming round the corner at the end of the long corridor.

"Ben, we have to get moving." Sonya spoke up, her voice quiet. She dropped her arms down to her sides, taking hold of the gun that was in her holster. Ben was staring down the corridor at the guards, determination set across his features.

"I know that. You two go, I’ll try and hold them back." Thomas nodded, putting a hand on Sonya's shoulder to guide her to the left, down their only remaining exit route. Sonya pushed Thomas' hand away from her, turning back to Ben.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?” She snapped at him, still keeping her voice down. Thomas didn’t really understand, it wasn’t as if the guards didn’t already know they were there. “We're not leaving you behind!" Ben ignored her, taking the gun out of the waist band of his trousers.

"For fuck sake, Sonya. Just take Thomas and run." Sonya shook her head, taking a step closer to him. The guards were almost on them, Thomas was starting to worry they were never going to make it out. But Sonya was right, they couldn't just leave him.

"I'm not leaving you behind." She insisted, her hand coming to rest on Ben’s shoulder. He glanced over at her for a second as he took the safety off his gun.

"I'm not asking you too, I’ll catch you up, just go!" Sonya stood watching him for a few seconds before she made up her mind, she dropped her gun into the pocket of Bens coat and took off running down the only remaining corridor. Thomas reluctantly ran after her, the sounds of gunshots ringing out behind them.

They took a sharp turn to the left at the end of the corridor before they hit a dead end. There were another set of large doors on this wall too, Thomas suspected they led to the same place as the others.

"We left the key cards behind, how are we going to-?"

"Shut up." Sonya cut him off. "I'm thinking." She dropped her gaze from the top of the doors to look at what was around them. Her face lit up as she found something, pushing past Thomas to get round him. "Hey, give me a boost?"

Thomas turned round to see what she'd found. Mid way up one of the walls was an air vent, large enough for them to fit in if the crawled. Thomas knelt down on the floor next to her and she used his leg to give herself a boost up, reaching up for the cover over the vent.

“I’ve got it!” Sonya called down, pulled on the cover until it came out of the gap. She dropped it to the floor and grabbed the ledge pulling herself up and into the vent. Thomas stood to help her but by the time he’d turned to face the vent she was already inside, holding out a hand to him. “You coming or what?”

He reached up to grab Sonya’s hand and with the other he grabbed onto the ledge. With Sonya’s help be managed to pull himself up and into the vent. The metal was cold against his skin as he lay on his stomach, having to crawl through the vent due to the small space. Sonya took the lead in front of him, taking a turn to the left up ahead.

Thomas tried not to panic as he reached the turning, the walls of the vent pressed tight against his arms as he tried to push himself through. He took a deep breath, using his feet to push of the wall to his right, twisting his body to force himself around the corner. With his arms trapped by his sides, he used his legs to push himself forward, to where Sonya had stopped in front of another vent.

Sonya looked like she was having much less trouble than him, she’d managed to get her arms in front of her and had used them to help her crawl through the vent. She was now stopped a few feet from the exit ahead of them, looking down at something on the vent floor.

“Why’ve we stopped?” Thomas panted, the heat from the walls, combined with his panic at getting stuck were starting to make him short of breath; he really wanted to get out of this vent as soon as possible. Sonya managed to look over her shoulder at him, holding a finger over her lips to get him to be quiet. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on but he did as he was told, straining his neck to try and get closer, hear whatever it was Sonya could.

There was noise coming from beneath them, but it was muffled through the metal of the vent. Thomas could tell that is was voices, so he pressed his ear to the floor to try and listen to what was being said, only for there to be a loud bang that reverberated around the vent causing a pang of pain to flow through him.

“They’re gone.” Sonya stated, pulling something from the floor, it was then that Thomas realised that there was another exit from the vent, one that led straight down into the room beneath them. There was a clang of metal on metal as Sonya dropped the small door onto the vent floor and crawled forward enough that she could get her legs down the hole.

She let herself drop through the opening, grabbing the edge so that she could control her landing. She held on for a few seconds before letting go, landing on the floor with a soft huff.

“Okay, Tommy.” She called up to him, “It’s clear!” Thomas frowned at the nickname she used, he hated it when other people called him that. He brought his legs up as close to him as possible and pushed forward, inching towards the opening.

“Hurry it up, would you?” He used as much strength as he could muster to twist his body around so that he was laying on his back, freeing up his arms so that he could move them in front of him. He let out a sigh of relief, pulling his knees up as much as he could and pushing himself forward again, using his now free hands to pull at the top of the vent.

He managed to get past the opening and hang his legs down through the gap. He felt someone grab his legs and he flinched, bringing them back up quickly, hitting his knees hard against the vent roof.

“Woah, Tom! It’s just me.” Sonya called up to him, trying to calm him down. He let his legs drop back down, shuffling the rest of the way so that he could drop down through the opening. He winced as he dropped down, scrapping his back on the edge of the metal as he fell.

He barely had time to register where they were before Sonya was dragging him through the room by his arm. He stumbled a little at the sudden movement but moved with her, running towards the open doorway on the other side of the room. Sonya dropped her hold on his arm as they approached the door, peering round to corner to check the room was clear.

Thomas watched from a few steps back, peering through the door himself. The room was huge - even bigger than what their camp had been - and it was full to the brim with vehicles. Thomas spotted the tank they’d been confronted with on the road in the far corner of the room, the large black trucks lining the walls beside it. But despite the amount of vehicles in the room, there was only one that really caught his attention.

Minho’s truck.

The bright orange pick-up was parked a few feet away from the tank, looking just as it had when WICKED had taken it from them. Their belongings were even still in the back, piled up on top of each other. WICKED had already gotten to it though, the letters painted in black lay stark across the hood of the truck.

Sonya turned back to him, a worried expression on her face. “We need to high-jack one of the vehicles if we have any chance of getting out. This place was supposed to be empty, but getting you out was harder than we thought it was going to be.”

Sonya gestured for him to come over. He took the few steps toward her so that he could take a better look at the room, stood next to each of the large doors entering the room were two guards, all with weapons of some sort, dressed head to toe in right gear. Escaping from WICKED unharmed was starting to look like it wasn’t going to happen.

“How are we going to make it out there?” Thomas asked, with that many guards lining the walls of the room, he doubted they would be able to leave the room they were in without being seen.

“Don’t worry, some of them are friends. Look, over there by the exit.” Thomas leaned to the side so that he could see where she was pointing, a few of the guards weren’t wearing helmets and Thomas was able to recognise one of them immediately - Gally.

The man he’d once thought was his friend was stood talking to a group of the guards, a gun slung over his shoulder, dressed just the same as them in the guard’s uniform.

“But… how?”

“I’ll explain later, right now we have to go, we don’t have much time.” Sonya ducked down as she ran out into the room, crouching down next to a car. Thomas followed after her, trying to be as quiet as possible as he knelt down at the side of the car.

His gaze snapped over to the left when he heard footsteps approaching them, there were some guards walking their way. Thomas ducked down and rolled underneath the car, pulling on Sonya’s hand to get her to do the same. She went under after him, the two of them laying on their backs. Thomas watched to the side, waiting for the guards to pass them, hoping to go un-noticed.

He held his breath as the guards walked past, hand over his mouth to stop himself from making any noise. The wait was excruciating, the guards taking their time as the patrolled the room. He watched their feet until they were out of sight, letting out a sigh of relief.

Thomas looked outside the other side of the car, to where he could see Minho’s truck standing out against the see of black. He knew they needed to get the truck back, it was all any of the group had left of the old world, and he was going to be damned if he didn’t at least try to get it bad.

He took a breath to prepare himself and rolled out from underneath the car, pushing himself up from under the car. He regretted his decision as soon as he did so. Another guard was stood on the other side of the truck, he looked over when Thomas stood up, recognition appearing on his feature as he did so.

“Oh shit.”

“Thomas, run!” Sonya called to him from under the car but he wasn’t fast enough. The guard volted over the hood of the car after him, Thomas tried taking a step away from him but tripped, falling backwards. He tried pushing himself backwards as the guard ran for him, hitting his back on a truck behind him. He used the truck to push himself up, stumbling to his feet just as Sonya got out from under the car and ran at the car, jumping up onto his back.

She wrapped her arms round his neck and her legs round his waist, throwing her body to the side forcing the guard to spin round. He called out in surprise as Sonya pushed her self forward, causing the guard to fall forward towards the truck. She jumped down off his back as he fell, using the force of the movement to push the guard forward hard, slamming his head against the car door.

The guard slumped forward against the truck, blood pooling around his head. Sonya turned round as Thomas stood staring at her, leaning up against the truck behind him. Her face was flushed, her breathing heavy, but she still looked ready to kill him.

"What part of run do you not understand? Let’s go!" Thomas took one last look at the guard before setting off in a run towards Minho’s truck. The rest of the guards had been alerted to their presence now, moving towards them from every angle. Thomas was really starting to wish that Sonya hadn’t given Ben her gun, it would have been really useful right now.

Thomas ducked down as he heard the sound of a gunshot, the bullet bouncing off the car next to him a mere second later. He didn’t dare look over to see which of the guards had tried to shoot at him, getting back and running full pelt towards the truck.

Another of the guards came out from round one of the trucks and jumped at Thomas, knocking him to the ground. He only had enough, but Thomas knew it was still enough to kill him with. He pushed up against the guards arms, using his legs to try and kick him off his body.

The guard swung down with the knife and Thomas turned his face to the side, trying to lean away from the attack but it didn’t work. With his pressure on the guards arm, they weren’t able to get the blade far down enough to kill him, but he had to force himself not to cry out as the knife cut into the skin of his cheek, scraping across the bone of his jaw.

Thomas heard movement beside him and closed his eyes as a sudden splash of blood hit his forehead, the guard going limp in his arms. He kicked the guard away, pushing himself up of the floor so see Sonya stood beside him, her sword dripping with the Guards blood as she pulled it out from the guard’s neck. He reached up to rub the blood of his face and when he looked at his hands he couldn’t tell what was his and what was the guards.

He forced himself not to think about it and ignore the pain in his cheek and he stepped over the guard laying lifeless on the floor, picking up the knife he’d dropped. He ducked down just in time to miss a knife as another of the guards swung at him, he kicked out with his leg and knocked their legs out from under them, their head hitting the floor with a thud. He didn’t wait to find out if they were alive or not, clambering over their body and sprinted towards the truck, Sonya close behind him.

By the time they reached the truck, Thomas had taken down two more guards, their blood staining the skin of his arms. He yanked open the door of the truck, thanking whoever it was that didn’t bother to lock the doors. He climbed in and slammed the door shut just as another guard reached them, he was ready to use the door to push the guard back when another gunshot rang out, the guard slumping forward against the door, blood pouring out the hole in his head.

He looked up to see who’d pulled the trigger to see Gally stood a few feet away, already aiming a shot at another guard that was running towards them. He wanted to thank him, he knew that he should, but now was really not the time. His attention was drawn away from Gally when Sonya got in the truck, ducking down on the front seat.

“Are we going to just sit here, or are we going to drive!” She snapped at him, her breathing heavy. Thomas rummaged around the dashboard for the keys, checking in all the compartments he could think for them to be stowed away.

He pulled down the sun visor and the keys fell down in his lap, he quickly picked them up and turned on the ignition, the truck roaring to life under his hands. He pulled out of the space it was parked in, took a left turn and drove full speed toward the open hangar doors.

Thomas could hear the sounds of gunshots all around the car, but that wasn’t what was worrying him anymore. As they approached the exit, the door was slowly being lowered, starting to trap them in the building.

“We’re not going to make it.” He spoke mostly to himself, speeding up the truck in an attempt to make it to the exit.

“Shut up, we’re going to make it.” Thomas wanted to believe her, but the closer they got the more it looked like they were going to be trapped. “Just keep driving.”

Thomas put his foot down on the accelerator to try and get one final burst of speed. The truck wasn’t the fastest, it never had been but it was never an issue until now, he found himself wishing that Minho had bought himself something a little better.

They made it to the exit with just enough room to make it through, the roof of the truck scraping harshly against the doors as the continued to close.

Thomas let out a sigh of relief as the sped away from the building, turning onto a main road and travelling on, trying to get as far away from here as possible. He didn’t slow down though, he didn’t want to risk the chance of them following them.

They rode in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds the roar of the engine and the gusts of winter air that sped past the truck; It was in these minutes that Thomas finally allowed himself to relax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a big fan of this chapter, but I promise next time they'll be reunited again - Not necessarily in the way you'd want though  
> As always, I'd love to know your thoughts so leave a comment or come talk to me on tumblr - I'm newtttheglue!


	10. Immune - 156

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “If we can convince them to trust us, maybe they’ll listen to us about WICKED. Maybe we’ll be able to get them to help us.” Chuck seemed to cheer up a little at that, a small smile on his face.  
> “Then we can go save Thomas?” He asked and Newt wondered if he looked as sad as Teresa did at his question, her face falling a bit at the mention of her brother. But she smiled back at him nonetheless, a sad smile that Newt wished he never had to see her use.  
> “Yeah, then we can go save Tom.”

The further away they got from WICKED, the more Thomas was able to calm down, his heart rate having finally returned to normal after feeling like it was ready to beat out of his chest not all that long ago. They’d been away from WICKED for what felt like hours and he still had no idea where they were, driving along a dirt path through the forest, the tall trees blocking out any view he had of the world around them.

Thomas felt a lot more vulnerable without the rest of the group around him, travelling with them had been scary enough, but with just him and Sonya he found himself checking the tree lines every few minutes just to make sure a group of Cranks wasn’t about to come out and attack them.

Sonya hadn’t spoken since they’d gotten outside of WICKED, spending most of the time staring out the window, her knees pulled up to her chest. Thomas wanted to ask her so many questions about what was going on, but he knew better than to push her. She’d just lost someone who was close to her and he knew how horrible that felt, as much as he really wished he didn’t - Now was not the time to be pressing her for answers.

He thought back to what he'd seen on the screen back in the meeting hall at WICKED, the video feed of Teresa, Brenda and Chuck at the campsite and tried to hold onto the hope that they were okay. He knew that he needed to get there, to get them out before Ava and her team got there, he just hoped that Newt and Minho had gotten there safe too, that was what kept him going.

Soon the trees started to clear and light flooded through, illuminating the road ahead which was widening and veering off to the right. Thomas glanced over at Sonya quickly to make sure he was still going the right way, but she made no indication that she even knew he was there, so he followed the road round, hoping she actually knew where they were going.

Once they were finally past the treeline and back onto the open road, Thomas could make out where they were again and he couldn’t help but get a little bit excited. Past the sea of abandoned cars and over spilled trucks stood the city he’d once lived, the buildings standing as tall as ever. He felt a small wave of hope as he looked over at the city, knowing that they couldn’t be too far from the camping grounds, from the rest of his group.

They were going to make it, they were going to be okay.

"It's all their fault." Thomas had gotten so used to the silence that Sonya’s voice made him jump a little, forcing his gaze over to her.

"Sorry?" He asked, trying to get her to explain further. Sonya turned her head to the side so that she could watch him, a few strands of hair that had fallen out of her plait falling in front of her face. She looked exhausted.

"The Flare. It's all WICKEDs fault, they made it." Thomas frowned, turning his gaze back to the road ahead. If Sonya was right - and he assumed she was, having been working in the complex for who knows how long - then everything he thought he knew about the flare was a lie.

"But they said it was-" Sonya didn't let him finish, cutting him off mid thought.

"A reaction to a medical treatment, I know." She sighed, looking down at her hands, picking at the blood that had dried on her skin. "They lied."

"Why would they do something like that?" Sonya let out a short laugh beside him, but there was nothing happy about it.

"Because they're sick bastards, that's why." Thomas waited for her to explain further, there must be something more to this that she was letting on. Why would she start explaining but not tell him the full details? He looked over at Sonya, to where she was now staring out the window again as they drive down the deserted road, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"We didn't..." She trailed off, seemingly trying to think of how to phrase what she wanted to say. Thomas didn't try and push her though, it'd taken her this long to start talking to him again, he wasn't go to risk that by saying the wrong thing. "We didn't know what they were doing when we joined."

"We?" He questioned, wondering if she meant more than just her and Ben.

Sonya nodded, staring out the window, watching the road ahead of them. "Me, Ben and Gally, we all joined together." That was something that Thomas was still trying to wrap his head around. Gally had still been with the group when he’d been picked up by WICKED, but he’d been in the hangar when they were trying to escape. Even if he'd left straight after him, how would he have gotten to the complex so fast?

None of it was making any sense to him.

"About that, if Gally's part if WICKED then how did he end up with us?" He asked, hoping that Sonya was willing enough to explain it all to him. Sonya leant back against her chair, her head lolling to the side to watch him, Thomas could just see her out of the corner of his eye, glancing over every few seconds as she started talking to him.

"He wasn't meant to be with your group, you already had monitors. He was se-"

"We already had monitors? What the hell does that even mean?" Thomas was really starting to wish he hadn’t asked about it. He knew that WICKED must have been keeping tabs on them from the pictures they’d shown during Ava’s meeting - the idea that they knew personal details about them still made him feel sick to his stomach - but he could get past that, they weren’t at the camp anymore.

He’d thought they didn’t have any other way to intrude into their lives, but the idea that there were people actively in their group supposedly monitoring them? Was there not anyone out there that they could trust anymore?

"Brenda and Jorge were your monitors, they were sent by WICKED to infiltrate your group, report back to headquarters with any new information.” Thomas wished he could say he wasn’t surprised it was them, but he really was. Brenda and Jorge had always seemed like vital members of the group – at least to him anyway – the fact that they were reporting back to WICKED about them was hard to take in, he’d started to think of them as something close to family.

"But then why was Gally there?"

"He was meant to be sent to the campsite where your all your friends are, but he purposely got himself lost because he wanted to help your group."

"Help us from what though? We already had two people watching us."

"That’s exactly _what_ he was helping you from, them." Thomas didn’t want to think about it anymore, his friends were currently stuck with a woman who was working for WICKED, now that he knew that not all of the organisation was good, any trust he’d ever placed in Brenda was gone until she could prove herself trustworthy again.

"Wait, go back. How do you know all my group is at the camp? The only video feed I saw showed Teresa, Brenda and Chuck - Newt and Minho weren't there." Thomas realised the answer to his question almost as soon as he asked it, there was really only one way that WICKED would know they were all there, why Sonya would know they were all there.

"Brenda reported back just before I came and found you, they're all fine. Trust me."

“Trust you?” Thomas snapped, blocking out his view of the road as he followed the road round the corner, looking over to face her better, not bothering to slow the car down. “But you just said she was working against us, how do you expect me to believe anything she says?”

“Thomas-” Sonya started, her voice sounded panicked but Thomas was too worked up to really pay much attention to it.

“No, I don’t want to hear it.” He cut her off, not wanting to listen to what she had to say, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. Sonya was staring wide eyed at the road ahead of them, grabbing tight hold of her arm rest. “I refuse to trust her if she’s working with WICKED. How can-?”

“Thomas, stop the car!” Thomas turned his gaze back to the road and slammed the brakes, stopping the car with a jolt just a few metres away from a large pile up of cars. He heard Sonya let out a huge sigh of relief as she sank down into her chair a little, brushing a few strands of hair away from her face. “Thank you.”

Sonya pushed open the door hard and let it swing out, jumping out of her seat and slamming the door shut behind her. Thomas sat in shock for a few seconds watching her walk towards the vehicles, before he too got out the car to follow her.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Thomas shut the door to the truck and jogged after her, slowing down to match her pace once he reached her. When she didn’t respond he reached out and grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her round to face him. Sonya tried pulling her arm back but he didn’t relinquish his grip. “You can’t just get out and wonder off.”

“You haven’t even known me for a day, you don’t get to tell me what to do.” Thomas released his grip on her arm and she pulled it free with a huff, carrying on through the maze of cars. “We’ve got to get a new vehicle, we’re not getting past this in your damn truck.”

“Well I’m not leaving without it.” Sonya stopped beside one of the cars closest to the edge of the road and pulled at the handle, but the door didn’t budge. She hit the door with her fist in frustration and took a step back, pushing her hair off her face as she turned back to Thomas.

“What do you suggest we do then? Circle back around and find another route?” Thomas opened his mouth to tell her he agreed but she shook her head, cutting him off. “Did you not listen to _anything_ Ava said whilst you were in there? They’re going to the camp in three days, Thomas, that’s how long we have to get there. That’s how long we have to get them out.”

“Oh come on,” Thomas exclaimed, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “We’re less than a day out now, turning back isn’t going to lose us that much time. We can still get to them before they do.”

“You don’t understand how wrong you are.” Sonya stated, shaking her head, running a hand through her hair in frustration. “If it wasn’t Ava’s group going to pick them up I wouldn’t be so worried, but it is and _that’s_ the problem.”

“Then explain it to me!” Thomas snapped, his voice sounding more vicious than he could remember it being in a long time. He sighed when he saw Sonya take a step away from him in shock, reaching down for the knife at her side. “I’m sorry, it's just... how am I meant to understand if you’re so vague all the time? You've got to give me something here.”

Sonya’s grip on her knife tightened for a second and Thomas was worried she was going to attack him, but after a few seconds she released her grip and turned to another one of the cars, pulling her sleeve over her hand to push away the smashed glass in the window.

“She has a different agenda than the rest of the company, they want to try and fix their mistakes, and Ava wants to continue them. She just doesn’t see it as a problem.” Sonya reached through the smashed widow for the lock on the inside of the door, pulling it up with a click. She pulled the door wide open and climbed inside, searching through the glove compartment.

“She’s immune to the virus, everyone at WICKED is, they created an antidote along with the disease to stop themselves getting infected. Everyone who enters the complex gets treated, that's what they were going to do to you after the meeting."

"So you're immune then? You can't get infected?" Sonya nodded, pulling down the collar of her shirt to show a black tattoo running round the side of her neck, the words 'Immune - 156' standing out against her pale skin. "But if they can immunise people, why didn't they just bring us in?" Sonya dropped her hold on her collar, turning back to the contents of the car.

"They’re testing people, that’s why they didn’t bring you all in straight away, they want to see if you can fight it off on your own, find out if anyone has an immunity to the virus on their own.”

Thomas moved round so that he could get a better look at what she was doing, riffling through the previous owners things. She obviously didn’t find what she was looking for as she pushed the compartment shut again with a huff, turning to face him.

“As soon as the groups start to get weak, can’t keep up against the Cranks, WICKED sends out a team to bring them in, help them to heal, immunise them and recruit them to join their cause. That’s how me, Ben and Gally got there. We were the last ones in our group, got pretty beat up trying to fight off a hoard and WICKED decided to bring us in.”

“But that doesn’t sound so bad, if they’re helping people then-” Sonya shook her head, cutting him off.

“That’s what I’m trying to get too. I’ve worked with Ava before, I know she’s not going to keep to her orders. She thinks that the weak don’t deserve to survive, it’s sick really.”

As bad as it all sounded, from what Thomas had seen of Ava and her group, he couldn’t say he was all that surprised to hear it. The way she’d treated them on the road was not something he ever wanted to experience again, Janson had even tried to hunt him down like an animal to stop him from getting away.

These people were not to be trusted and Thomas knew that he couldn’t let them get to the Glade before they did, not before he had chance to warn them that they were coming.

“So how do we stop it from happening?” Thomas watched as Sonya gave him a small smile, twirling her knife around in her hands.

“Look, our only shot is to get your friends out of that camp before she gets there. But I don’t…” Sonya trailed off, staring down at the knife in her hands.

“You don’t what?” Thomas pressed, she’d finally started to open up to him about what was going on, he wasn’t about to let her go quiet again.

“Ben knew her plan, we didn’t… we didn’t have chance to talk about it, I don’t know what it is.”

“I heard her talking with that man right before they took me, I think his name was Janson?” Sonya turned her attention away from her hands and back to him, a frown set across her face.

“You’ve met Rat Man?”

“Who?” Thomas wondered if he'd ever understand what was going on, who the hell was ‘Rat Man’?

“Never mind.” Sonya shook her head, getting up out of the car and shutting the door behind her, leaning up against it. “What did they say?” Thomas pushed himself to remember, it all felt so long ago, even if it had only been two days since it had happened.

“They were talking about how they were going to approach the campsite. Something about drawing them out and catching them as the leave.”

“Drawing them out? You don’t think that means-?”

“Cranks.” Thomas finished for her, the thought sending a chill through his bones. When they’d been attacked at their old camp in the woods, the confined space had made it almost impossible to keep the Cranks at bay, away from those who were unable to fight.

In a camp as large as the one at The Glade, there were bound to be a lot of people that couldn’t fight, who hadn’t ever needed to fight. Setting a hoard of Cranks on them would be carnage and in a confined space like the camp grounds, there was no-where for them to go but out, right into the hands of WICKED.

Sonya seemed to be having a similar thought as a determined look set across her face. She pushed herself off from the car, brushing away the dust that had settled on her jacket.

“We have to get moving then, if they’re setting Cranks on the camp then we don’t have time to waste. We need to get one of these cars working and we need to go.” Sonya took off running through the maze of cars, making her way towards the front of the pile up.

Thomas looked back at the truck, reluctant to leave it behind, but he knew that getting to the camp was more important than holding onto past memories. Thomas jogged back to the truck quickly, deciding that if they couldn’t move the cars and take it with them, he could at least grab some supplies. WICKED really had seemed to have left their belongings pretty much intact, all of their bags and weapons piled up in the back of the truck.

He knew exactly what it was he needed to get from the pile, the bag that contained all of their food and medication. It he remembered rightly it may not be all that full anymore, but if anything was going to help them survive this hell, it was going to be that. He quickly rummaged through each of the bags, finding tattered clothes and old flashlights, until he finally came across the bag he was looking for.

Thomas swung the bag onto his back, picked up a gun from the mass of weapons and put it into the back of his jeans. He grabbed his knife from the top of the pile and took off, putting it into the holster at his side, running from the truck to find Sonya at the front of the pile up, leaving the rest of the groups belongings behind.

He weaved through the maze of cars, the closer he got to the front of the pile up, the more he started to notice the smell of the place. A large majority of the cars were still occupied, although not by anyone living. He tried to ignore the tapping on some of the car windows as he went past, Cranks that were still alive inside the vehicles trying to push the doors opened to get to him.

Thomas had to use his sleeve to cover his face to try and reduce the smell of rot as he came up beside Sonya, who was trying to get into one of the larger cars at the front of the pile up, this one thankfully Crank free. She didn't seem to be having much luck with it though, trying to pick the lock of the door in an attempt to get it open.

"Let me have a try?" Thomas asked, hoping that maybe he could get it open and they could get out of there. Sonya seemed to contemplate this for a second before she stepped back, gesturing at the door.

"Be my guest." Thomas took a deep breath, removing his arm from in front of his face to hold onto his knife with both hands. He turned it round in his hands and hit the knives hilt hard against the car window, wincing at the noise it made on impact as the glass shattered. "Couldn't have thought of a quieter way to do that?"

Thomas shrugged and was about to reply when the cars security system seemed to kick in, an alarm blaring out all around them, the cars lights flashing on and off to signal there position to anyone and anything that was nearby. The sudden sound caused Thomas to jump, dropping his knife as he reached up to cover his ears. Sonya had done the same thing, taking a few steps away from the car in shock.

"Tom, turn it off!" She shouted over to him, but he had no idea how he was supposed to do that. He reached into the car through the now smashed window, pulling it open with the handle from the inside. The alarm was no quieter once he got inside the car, but he tried ignoring it, hunting round the car for any way to get the alarm to turn off.

Thomas rummaged round the car, searching in all the compartments and climbing into the back of the car to check under all the seats but he couldn't find any keys, whoever has left the car hear must have taken them with them. He was starting to panic now, there was no way they wouldn't have drawn attention to themselves with all the noise and he had no idea how to stop it.

He tried thinking about his limited knowledge of cars and remembered how Minho had once had to start up the truck using the fuse box, he had to give it a shot. Thomas clambered back over the seats to get to the driver’s seat, ripping back the panel that covered all the wires connecting to the steering wheel. He had no idea which one would stop the alarm, if any, so he grabbed a handful of them and pulled, unclipping them from the circuit.

The alarm stopped immediately and he sagged down in relief, closing his eyes as he leant back against the chair. He let out a huff of air and risked a glance over at Sonya, expecting her to be mad at him, but she was looking somewhere else, over to the tree line, a look of shock over her face.

"What is it?" He asked, getting out of the car so that he could see what she was looking at. Emerging from the tree line were at least twenty Cranks - possibly even more behind them - heading over in their direction. Thomas cursed his luck as he looked over at the car, he had no idea if there was any way to start it now - having never had to hijack a car before - and the only car they knew for certain they could get away in was all the way on the other side of the pile up.

"We need to get out of here." Sonya whispered, grabbing hold of his hand and pulling him quickly towards the cars furthest away from the edge of the road, away from the tree line.

They ducked down as they moved past the cars, trying to stay out of sight from the Cranks as much as possible. Sonya let go of his hand as they reached the back of a particularly large truck, holding it up tell him to stop. Thomas waited next to the truck as she edged out, checking to see whether or not they were free to move out. As much as he hated not being with the rest of his group, Sonya seemed to know what she was doing and he was glad she was around in that moment, he just prayed she had an idea to get them out of this, because he was really coming up short.

The space round them must have been clear as Sonya stood from her crouch, running over to the next car. She bent down and turned back to him, gesturing for him to follow her over. Thomas stood up to follow her but stopped still when the knife that had been in the waistband of his jeans clattered to the ground.

Thomas didn’t think the sound of metal had ever been so loud, the noise seeming to reverberate around them. Reaching out with his foot he stamped down on the knife, making the noise stop, and letting out a sigh of relief. He bent back down to pick the knife up of the ground and ran over to Sonya, crouching down next to her.

“Sorry I didn’t-” The whispered an apology but she held up a hand to cut him off, moving forward so that she could peak over the top of the car. Thomas was about to ask her what she was doing when she span back around, pushing at his shoulders.

“Get under the car.”

“What?”

“Just trust me, get under.” Thomas decided that now was really not the time to be questioning her and took off his backpack, laying down on the floor so that he could get under the car, Sonya following close behind him, leaving his bag just outside the car.

It wasn’t long before Thomas realised what was happening, the sounds of the Cranks slowly reaching them. He cursed his luck that after getting away from them a first time he’d managed to draw them back over again.

As he lay on his stomach under the car, a hand over his mouth to try and quieten his breathing, he started to wish that it was someone else laying on the floor besides him. Not that he’d wish anyone else to be in their situation, far from it, but as the noises of the Cranks grew ever closer, the fear that they weren’t going to make it out of this was starting to grow.

Thomas had started to find that it wasn’t dying so much that was scaring him anymore, he was more afraid about dying alone. With Sonya laying on her back beside him, he couldn’t help but feel like that’s exactly what he was - alone. He didn’t know her, not really. Not like he knew the others, his mismatched family that he’d grown to care for more than anything over the past few months and as much as he was glad Sonya was with him, it just wasn’t the same, it wasn’t right.

This wasn’t how he was meant to die.

Thomas knew he shouldn’t watch, that it would only panic him more, but he became transfixed as the masses of feet came walking past the car in varying degrees of decomposition. His earlier assumption about the number of Cranks had been very wrong, there were so many more than twenty. Thomas counted at least forty from what he could see and that was only on his side of the car.

He reached down to his side and wrapped his hand round the knife, careful not to let it fall out its hold again, that was the one thing they really didn’t need. He really hoped he wouldn’t need it, prayed that the Cranks would just walk straight past them, but he held on tight just in case.

He suddenly felt a hand grab onto his arm and had to forcibly stop himself from making any noise at the sudden pressure, turning his head to the side to see Sonya grabbing tight hold to his arm, her eyes screwed shut as she moved closer to his side. He sagged back down in relief, letting his forehead touch the cool ground.

He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest, his breath coming out in short quick bursts. Thomas knew that he needed to be quite but he couldn’t help it, finding it difficult to calm himself down. God he wished Newt was there, he’d know what to do - he _always_ knew what to do.

Thomas’ panic wasn’t helped when there was a loud thump to his right, causing him to whip his head round to the side, his grip tightening on his knife, eyes widening in shock.  

One of the more decomposed of the Cranks had tripped over his bag, falling just a few inches away from where Thomas lay on the floor. He let in a sharp intake of breath, shuffling slowly further under the car, even closer to where Sonya was next to him. He silently cursed himself for being so stupid, why the hell did he leave it out there?

Thomas tried to be as quiet as he could in his movements, not wanting the Crank to notice them but he obviously wasn’t quiet enough. The Crank rolled its head to the right so that is was laying sideways on the floor, staring straight at him with dead eyes, seemingly looking straight through him. Thomas knew that the Cranks weren’t fast, but stuck in the confined space that he was they’d never felt quicker.

The Crank pulled both arms up from his sides and reached under the car, scraping at the ground to pull itself underneath and get better access to him, snapping at him with his teeth as it moved. Thomas moved back further, forcing Sonya further out to the other side of the car; he could feel her grabbing at his back as he pushed harder but he had no idea what he was supposed to do, swinging out with his knife in an attempt to slow the Crank down.

Sonya was slamming her fists against his back, her breath coming out in fast pants against his neck, but he kept forcing himself back under the truck, ignoring her protests, still trying to stab his knife into the side of the Cranks head. Nothing seemed to be working, he couldn’t move properly from his cramped position on the floor and the Crank was only moving closer, suddenly lunging itself forward, its teeth snapping inches from his face.

Thomas pushed hard backwards, feeling Sonya fall away from him as he swung the knife forward and embedded it hard into the side of the Cranks head, the energy falling from it instantly as it sunk to the ground, it’s arm dropping across Thomas’ chest as he let out a huff of air, laying down on the ground once again.

He didn’t get much time to rest though as Sonya was grabbing at his chest again, hands scrambling up his shirt and holding on for dear life. Thomas snapped his attention over to her as she let out a chocked off noise, obviously trying to hold back a scream as an arm reached under the car, scraping with its nails at the skin on her back. He hadn’t realised just how far he’d pushed himself under but Sonya was practically out of the car, the Crank trying to crawl over to get to her.

Thomas reacted fast, reaching out with his knife to swing at the Cranks arm and jamming the knife in hard, moving it back and forth until it went through, the arm falling across Sonya’s back. Thomas wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back under the car with all the strength he could find, Sonya letting out a whimper at the movement, pushing herself under with her feet, laying across his chest with her face pressed against Thomas’ neck.

The Crank soon came back though, using it’s other arm to try and drag itself under the car but this time Thomas was closer to the edge, able to attack as soon as it surfaced. The blood splashed up his arm as the knife hit but he didn’t care, pulling the knife back and holding it close to his side as the Crank fell, keeping his eyes fixed on the tarmac outside, but there didn’t seem to be any left, despite the noise he was sure they’d made.

Thomas didn’t know how long they stayed there, laying on the ground, waiting to be certain that the herd had past them. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, but soon the shuffle of feet couldn’t be heard anymore, the smell was starting to go away and Thomas could finally let out the breath of air he’d been holding in for god knows how long.

It was only then that he let himself calm down, rubbing a hand over his face and through his hair, hitting his head lightly on the tarmac. He couldn’t believe they’d gotten away, it was a miracle really, but one he was insanely great full for none the less.

Thomas placed the knife gently on the floor, moving to wrap his arm around Sonya’s waist and hold him closer to her, only just noticing that she was shaking, feeling her tears running down his neck. Her back was bleeding, he could feel it under his fingers. He had a sudden panic that he needed to get away from her, that she could turn at any minute, but he caught sight of the words branded into her neck – _Immune_.

Thomas had a sudden idea as he rested his head back down on the floor, staring at the lifeless Crank laying by his side. If WICKED had a cure then he needed to get it. That was the only way they were going to be able to survive this, the only way they were ever going to stay alive long enough to find a safe haven. He needed to find his friends, get to WICKED and get the cure, not matter what it took he was going to save them all, he had to.

“It’s going to be okay, you’re going to be fine.” He whispered to Sonya, still too frightened to talk too loudly. She was going to have to be okay, he needed someone who knew WICKED if this was going to work.

And it was going to work.

_It has too_

* * *

Newt was slowly starting to come too, blinking away the sleep that filled his eyes. He felt drowsy, as if he’d been asleep for hours, but he knew that couldn’t be right; he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in what felt like months.

One thing he could be certain of was that it was cold, Thomas must have taken the blanket from him in the night. Newt stretched out an arm to his left to try and reach out for Thomas but he felt nothing but air, his fingers scrapping the edge of the mattress. He frowned as he gripped the bed, they didn’t have a mattress back at camp?

Newt sat up with a jolt once he realised where he was and regretted it almost instantly, a wave of pain shot up his leg as he moved, causing him to shout out in shock. There was a sudden movement from his left and he jumped, moving to push himself away from whoever was there but stopped when he saw who it was, letting out a long sigh of relief.

Minho had a hand raised in front of him as he slowly moved to sit on the edge of Newt’s bed, watching him carefully to see if he’d make any more sudden movements. When he seemed satisfied that Newt had calmed down Minho dropped his hand down onto his shoulder, squeezing it gently as he let out a sigh of relief.

“You scared the crap out of me.” Newt gave Minho a tentative smile and as he looked him over, remembering what Harriet had told them before about how they’d help out with both their injuries. Minho seemed to look a lot better than he had done, the colour having returned to his face making him look less like he was going to pass out any minute. He had a few stitches over the wound on his forehead, which turned out not to be quite as bad as they’d feared.

“How you holding up?” Newt tore his eyes away from the stitches to look down at his leg, the sight something he’d never seen before. There were two planks of wood on either side of his left leg, each one tied round his leg with some thick, white fabric. The skin around his ankle was still red and puffy, but the constant ache he’d come to live with was better than it had been in a long time.

“It seems to be alright,” Newt decided, he really wanted to try wiggling his toes to see how it felt but he knew that wasn’t the best of ideas, no matter how much it didn’t hurt right now it was still broken, it was going to be a long time before he could move comfortably again. “Really bloody hurt though.”

Minho huffed out a laugh, shaking his head as he sat more comfortably on the bed. “Yeah, not so fun to watch either” Newt tore his eyes away from his leg, looking to Minho, shooting him an exaggerated pout.

“You poor thing.” Minho looked like he was about to reach out and hit him jokingly but decided against it, nudging his shoulder gently instead.

“Hey, I stayed and looked after you whilst you slept, you have to be nice to me.”  

“I’m sorry, thank you so much for your kindness.” Minho rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he leant against the headboard.

“I think I preferred you when you were sleeping”

Newt huffed out a laugh and was about to reply when the door suddenly swung open. The two of them snapped their gaze over to the doorway, preparing themselves to have another confrontation with the members of The Glade.

Newt let out a sigh of relief when Chuck came through the doorway, followed by Teresa, both of them smiling brightly when they saw the two of them. He was happy to see that they both seemed unharmed, even if Harriet had threatened to harm them if they stayed too long, at least she had kept her word about waiting to kick them out until they’d all healed, he didn’t know what he’d have done if they’d been sent away from the Glade on their own.

“Newt, you’re awake.” Brenda sounded surprised as she came through the door, shutting it behind her. The small frown that was on her face quickly cleared to make way for a smile as she came to join them, Newt didn’t really care that much to think anything of it, she’d always been a little bit odd in his opinion.

“How are you feeling?” Teresa asking as she sat down on the edge of the spare bed next to Minho, passing Newt over the plate of food that she was carrying. Newt took it thankfully, he hadn’t realised how hungry he actually was until there was food in front of him.

“Better, I think” Newt ate a mouthful of the beans as Teresa sat down on the bed across from them, Chuck coming to join her, sitting cross legged in the middle, glancing between Newt and the brace around his leg.

“Good, you’re going to need to keep your strength up if we have to get out of here.”

“Who said anything about leaving?” Brenda asked, frowning down at her from where she stood at the end of the bed. Teresa looked over to her, eyebrows raised in confusion.

“What, you really think staying here with people who keep pointing guns at our heads is a good idea?” Newt knew Teresa was right, there was no way they were going to be able to stay here for much longer, not now that he was awake at least. He didn’t want to risk overstaying their welcome, getting the others hurt just because he couldn’t walk wasn’t something that he wanted to happen.

Not for the first time he found himself wishing he’d died back then at the store on their supply run, everything would be so much easier for everyone if he wasn’t there holding them all back,

“She’s right.” Minho spoke up. “Their leader – That Harriet woman – she threatened us, said either we leave or they make us. Brenda you know that if that’s the case then we can’t stay here.” Newt figured that would be the end of the discussion, but Brenda didn’t seem to like the idea.

“We can’t just leave either, we only just got here.” She sounded panicked and Newt was finding it a little hard to understand how she could want to stay with people that were threatening to kill them. The cranks could be scary, sure, but at least they didn’t have any weapons.

You could run from the dead, you couldn’t run from a bullet.

“If you want to stay here and get yourself killed, be my guest, but we might be leaving whether you like it or not.” As much as Newt knew Minho didn’t like Brenda, he knew that leaving her here wasn’t an option. If they were to believe Harriet would keep her word, and Newt had a feeling she would, leaving Brenda behind would mean sending her to her death and that was not okay with him.

“Minho, we’re not leaving anyone behind.” Newt told him, trying to make it sound threatening. He suddenly wished Alby was there with them, he would have known what to do - He could have convinced them. 

“What?” Minho snapped at him. “If she doesn’t want to come with us, that’s her decision.” Minho moved to get up off the bed, going to stand in front of Brenda, much like he’d done with Harriet. “The only one who wanted you here anyway was Jorge, and he’s  _dead_ , so why don’t you just go off back to where you came from.” Minho

“Oh I will soon enough, you’ll see.” Newt didn’t have much time to dwell on what she meant because she turned on her heal and stormed out the room, dropping the plate of food he assumed she’d brought for Minho to the floor, the plate smashing to pieces. He winced at the sound, staring after Brenda as she slammed the door shut behind her.

The four of them were quiet for a long time, no one really sure what to say. Newt knew Minho and Brenda didn’t get along, hell everyone knew that, but he’d gone way too far this time. She’d lost her cousin only days ago, throwing that in her face like it was nothing was harsh, even for him.

“Seriously?” Newt pulled his gaze away from the door, turning to see Teresa staring up at Minho, shock written all over her face. Chuck stayed quiet besides her, looking between the two of them – he looked worried and Newt couldn’t say he blamed them.

Their whole group seemed like it was falling apart around them and there didn’t look like there was any way to stop it. First Jorge and Alby died, then Gally left, Thomas got taken and now it looked like they were losing Brenda too. The family that they’d created over the past couple of months was slowly dwindling, one by one and Newt was starting to worry that soon there would be no one left.

“What?” Minho asked, evidently not understanding what the big deal was, but Newt could see it on his face, he knew he’d done wrong, he was just never going to admit it.

Teresa scoffed, shaking her head at him. “That was low, even for you.”

“Oh whatever, there’s something off about her and you know it.” Minho let out a huff of air as he sat back down on the bed next to Newt, moving to lean back against the headboard again. “We don’t need her around, we never did.”

Newt put his half-empty plate down on the small table that was next to the bed, having lost his appetite somewhere in the conversation. He sighed, closing his eyes as he rested his head back against the wall.

The four of them sat in silence then, each of them seemingly staring at nothing, giving Newt chance to think about what was happening to them. Their whole lives had turned to shit and after the attack on their camp he hadn’t thought anything worse could have happened, but evidently he’d been wrong.

He didn’t understand why other humans would be out to get them when there was something much worse to worry about, it just didn’t make sense to him. The people at the Glade seemed safe, well protected behind their walls, what was so wrong with them that they couldn’t just stay here? Fight against the Cranks together?

He wished he knew why this was all happening, he wished he knew how to  _stop_  it from happening anymore - but lately his wishes seemed to be going unanswered. They were alone in this world now and he was slowly starting to accept that, there was no one out there left to help them anymore.

Newt was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a noise over by the door, looking over to see Chuck clearing his throat, trying to get their attention. He blushed a little when he got their attention, shifting nervously on his feet next to the door, holding the broken plate pieces carefully in his hands. Newt had been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn’t even noticed him moving to pick them up.

“Can we go now? We’re going to be late, you said we only had twenty minutes here.”

“Wait, go where?” Newt asked, confused as to what Chuck was talking about. What could they possibly be running late for?

“Not you, you’re staying here.” Teresa told him, getting up from her spot on the bed to join Chuck over by the door, gesturing for Minho to follow her. He looked a little unsure about leaving Newt behind, giving him an apologetic look before he got up off the bed but Newt wasn’t about to let them leave without telling him what was going on.

He reached out and grabbed hold of Minho’s arm, stopping him from moving further away. “Like hell I am, what’s going on?” Minho didn’t even try to pull himself away, relaxing in Newt’s hold instead, shrugging over at Teresa.

“We can’t just not tell him, T.” He told her as Newt released his grip on Minho’s arm.

“Tell me what?” Newt asked, looking between the three of them, hoping one of them would tell him what the hell was going on. Minho was staring at Teresa, moving to lean back against the wall and nodding at her when she looked his way. Teresa seemed a little unsure, scratching at the back of her neck but after a few seconds of deliberation she sighed, looking back over at Newt.

“Harriet came and found me yesterday, said she wanted to talk with whoever was in charge. I didn’t know who I was supposed to tell her that was I mean, you were still out of it and Minho wouldn’t leave until you’d woken up so I went with her. She urm… her second in command, you know that Rachel girl from before?” Newt tried to think back, he’d been so tired when they’d gotten to the camp that the whole thing was a little hazy, but he thought remembered Rachel.

“The one on the roof?” He asked, thinking back to how she’d jumped down from the top of the building to talk to them.

“Yeah, that’s the one. She may have seemed like a dick but she spoke to Harriet and made her give us a trial.”

Newt frowned at that. “A trial? For what? We haven’t done anything wrong.” It didn’t make any sense to him and apparently Teresa felt the same way, huffing out a short laugh.

“That’s what I said. Look, they’re still going to make us leave eventually, that’s still not changing no matter the outcome of this thing. But Harriet wanted us to leave as soon as you’d woken up, Rachel tried to convince her that we should get to stay until you can at least walk without that thing round your leg.”   

“So they’re putting us on trial to decide?” Teresa nodded.

“If they deem us safe and useful for the community then we can stay, if not we have until tomorrow evening to leave.” It was still a little confusing to him bit he guessed it made sense. If a group of strangers had showed up at their camp asking to stay this long after the outbreak, he’d probably be a little suspicious of them to start off with too.

“But what about WICKED?” Chuck asked from the doorway, his voice quiet. “They’re coming here right? Maybe we shouldn’t stay.” Newt had forgotten about that, the memory of what Teresa had told them suddenly coming back to them. If WICKED were about to come and attack the Glade, maybe Chuck had a point, maybe they shouldn’t stay here.

“That’s why we need to go to the trial, Chuck.” Teresa told him. “If we can convince them to trust us, maybe they’ll listen to us about WICKED. Maybe we’ll be able to get them to help us.” Chuck seemed to cheer up a little at that, a small smile on his face.

“Then we can go save Thomas?” He asked and Newt wondered if he looked as sad as Teresa did at his question, her face falling a bit at the mention of her brother. But she smiled back at him nonetheless, a sad smile that Newt wished he never had to see her use.

“Yeah, then we can go save Tom.”

“Well I’m coming then.” Newt decided, sitting up a little on the small bed. “I’m not just going to sit here whilst you all get interrogated by some people we don’t even know.” Teresa turned back to face him, shaking her head.

“Newt, I don’t think that’s-”

“Stop it.” Newt snapped, causing Teresa to jump a little in shock. He hadn’t meant to scare her, that hadn’t been his intention, but he wasn’t about to just sit around here when the others went to go a find out their fate. “I’m sick of you all treating me like I’m broken because I’m not! Sure, my leg’s fucked and I’m probably not going to be able to walk properly again but that doesn’t mean I can’t still help, so quit acting like it. I’m coming with you.”

“Fine.” Minho piped up beside him.

“What?” He and Teresa both spoke at the same time, turning to look at Minho in shock, Newt had kind of forgotten he was there, having not said anything for a while. Minho just shrugged, getting up from his seat and walking round to the other side of the bed, the edge that Newt was sat on.

“Minho, he needs to rest.”

“He’s been resting for the past two days, Teresa, he’s fine. He can come with us to a stupid meeting, we have a better chance with us all there anyway.” Teresa didn’t seem too happy about it, frowning at the two of them as Minho moved to help him up, wrapping an arm around his waist. Newt reached up to put an arm round Minho’s neck, shuffling to the edge of the bed as Minho helped him up, trying to keep the pressure off his leg.

The pain was still there, making his leg throb with the movement, but it felt better than it had. He still didn’t want to risk putting too much weight on it though so he re-positioned himself a little, putting all his weight onto his other leg and leaning into Minho’s side to help himself stay upright.

“We good to go, or are we just going to stand here arguing all day?” Minho asked and Teresa seemed to sag a little in defeat, nodding.

“Just please be careful?” Newt felt a small twinge in his chest at the way she was looking at him, the concern she felt so clearly showing – it was the exact way that Thomas would look at him from time to time. Newt wished he was here right now, he’d know how to get them through this, he’d know what to say.

“Yeah, I promise.” Teresa watched the two of them for a little bit before nodding, opening the door to the small building and leaving, Chuck trailing off behind her, small bits of the broken plate falling from his hands as he went.

Minho started to follow soon after, his pace slow so that Newt had a chance to keep up with him. It felt weird, walking with the brace round his leg, his knee constricted so he couldn’t bend it, forcing him to keep his leg straight. He didn’t like it, but he was grateful for it if it meant that he’d be able to run again.

The camp was empty when they left the small building, the cold air hitting him like a punch to the chest, causing him to shiver and move a little closer to Minho without thinking. He didn’t seem to mind though, tightening his grip around Newt’s waist as they followed Teresa and Chuck.

The fire was still burning in the centre of the camp, the flames standing tall and bright against the frost around them. Newt wished they could have the trial around the fire, at least then they could be warm for once, but he knew that was probably out of the question.

They passed empty benches and small green tents before they reached the large building they’d been taken to when they’d first arrived, although this time the Gladers weren’t there to greet them. Teresa and Chuck were waiting for them at the doors, Chuck no longer carrying the pieces of the broken plate, he must have thrown them away somewhere along the way, but Newt hadn’t been paying him any attention to know.

“You sure about this?” Minho asked Teresa, who was staring intently at the door in front of her. When she didn’t reply Minho reached out with his free hand to take hold of one of hers, squeezing it gently to try and get here attention. “Teresa?”

“I’m good.” She told him, linking her fingers with his and giving him a small smile. “We’ve got this.” Minho nodded back, returning the smile as she squeezed his hand one more time before letting go, taking a deep breath before opening the door to the building.

Newt was surprised they hadn’t been able to hear the noise from outside, because everyone in the building seemed to be arguing with one another. The room was packed full with people, seemingly the entirety of the Glades residents were cramped into the hall. Beds had been pushed to the sides and a row of tables were lined at the back of the hall. Harriet was sat up on top of one of them, Rachel and Aris at her sides, watching the arguments going on around them.

Newt saw the moment she spotted them, the door to the building slamming shut behind them from the wind causing Newt to wince a little. The whole hall turned silent, every single pair of eyes turning to look at the four of them. He had the sudden urge to turn back, get the hell out of this place whilst they still could, but this was important, they couldn’t show any weakness – not now.

Teresa glanced back at them one last time before heading for the front of the hall, making her way for the aisle the crowd had made to let them pass. Minho and Newt followed after, he tried to ignore the way they were all watching them, keeping his gaze on Teresa instead.

Harriet had stood up from her seat, gesturing at the row of chairs behind the tables that Newt assumed must be for them. He wondered if this had ever happened here before, how many people had come to their camp hoping for help only to be turned away because they weren’t deemed helpful enough. It made him feel a little sick, just because someone wasn’t useful, didn’t mean they didn’t deserve help just like anyone else.

Minho help Newt down to his seat, taking the chair in-between him and Teresa, Chuck coming to sit next to Newt on his other side, scooting his seat a little closer before he sat down. Brenda was sat at the far end of the table next to Teresa, even if part of him had hoped she’d left he was glad to see her there, five was better than four no matter how much he knew Minho would hate to admit it.

It was much harder to ignore the stares from the front of the room, everyone watching them from their seats around the room, but he tried not to think about it too much, instead watching Harriet as she paced up and down the length of the table.

She came to a stop in front of them, hands on her hips, watching the four of them. Rachel and Aris were stood at either ends of the tables, their guns hug over their shoulders – Newt really hoped they wouldn’t have to use them.

“Do any of you have anything you want to say before we start this?” Harriet asked, looking to them each in turn. Newt wasn’t all too sure what is was she would have wanted them to say, so he just shook his head.

“That this is bullshit.” Minho muttered under his breath, Newt had only just caught it and immediately looked up to Harriet, but she hadn’t seemed to have heard what he’d said, instead turning to face the rest of the hall.

“These five broke into our home, have taken up our medical supplies and if we’re to believe what they have to say, they’ve also brought the enemy straight to our doors. You all know we’re running low on supplies, the winter’s only going to get worse and we can’t afford to take in anyone else, not now.”

“But we could also use a few extra pair of hands.” Rachel spoke up, “They’ve been out there, and they know what it’s really like compared to some of you who’ve never left the camp. I think they could be of use to us until they’ve healed enough to leave.” Newt was suddenly very thankful that Rachel was there to defend them, at least they seemed to have someone on their side for once.

“Now this isn’t just up to us, that’s why you’re all here. As much as I’d like to just send them away, you all have a say it what we do with them, we’re going to put it to a vote.” Harriet looked over at Rachel then. “Sound fair?” Rachel nodded so Harriet turned back to them, arms folded across her chest.

“How many Cranks have you killed?” Newt frowned, looking over at the others. What kind of question was that? Between them they’d killed plenty of Cranks, surely the Gladers must have as well, what did that have to do with anything?

“How are we even supposed to know that?” Teresa asked, leaning forward against the table. “It’s not as if we like to keep count.” Harriet didn’t seem to care too much about that, staring at Teresa as she repeated the question

“How many Cranks have you killed?” Teresa sighed, leaning back in her chair again.

“I don’t know, a hundred? Maybe more than that.” Harriet nodded, someone on one of the front rows behind her making a note of the answer on a pad of paper.

“How many people have you killed?” Newt could see the confusion on Minho’s face out of the corner of his eye, and he couldn’t help but feel the same way. They hadn’t killed any people, they had no need too, at least not until they’d come here anyway.

“What?” Minho asked, looking like he was about ready to get out of his seat to confront her again. “Why the fuck would we be going around killing people?” Newt’s attention moved over to Aris when he picked up his gun to point it at Minho, aiming it straight at his chest. Minho calmed down a little when he noticed, staring at the weapon.

“It’s a simple question, just answer it.”

“None.” Newt told him, hoping it would get Aris to drop the weapon, but he only seemed to hold onto it a little tighter. “We haven’t killed  _anyone_.” Aris tore his gaze away from Minho to him, the gun moving with him to point at Newt.

“You sure about that?” He asked, determination set in his features.

“Yes I’m bloody sure about that.” Newt snapped, Aris dropping the weapon to hang back on his shoulder as he spoke, huffing out a short laugh at his response. Rachel was glaring at him from the other end of the table but he just shrugged, leaning up against the wall.

Harriet opened her mouth to ask her next question when Brenda cut her off, her voice so quiet Newt almost missed it. “One.” Harriet’s attention moved solely to her, frowning slightly.

“Only one?” She asked and Brenda nodded, slumping down a little in her seat and not meeting Harriet’s gaze.

“Yeah, I killed him, I remember.” Harriet stared at her for a few seconds, looking her over and Newt wondered what she was thinking. If he was honest with himself he hadn’t even counted shooting Jorge as killing a human at all, he’d been so far gone that in his head it was just like killing another Crank, even though it had been someone close to them.

“Why?” Harriet asked them, taking him out of his thoughts.

“Why what?” Teresa answered, Newt could see her leg shaking under the table and he wondered if she was thinking the same as him. What if killing a human was what got them kicked out, even if it was only in self-defence? What were they going to do then?

“Why’d you kill them?” Harriet pressed, she seemed much more interested in this answer than she had the first too, looking between them with curiosity.

“He’d been bitten, what else were we supposed to have done, let him turn? Kill us all?” Minho responded, arms folded across his chest as he stared up at her. Newt thought he was trying to look intimidating, but if anything he still looked quite scared, glancing over at Aris occasionally.

“We just stopped the inevitable from happening.” Teresa spoke up, putting a hand reassuringly on Minho’s arm in an attempt to get him to calm down a little. He seemed to relax a little at her touch, letting out a breath of air Newt hadn’t noticed he’d been holding in. “We put him out of his misery, that’s all.”

“Can you confirm that?” Harriet was looking past Newt to Chuck, who’d been sat quietly next to him, staring down at his hands in his lap. He hadn’t seemed to notice Harriet was speaking to him so Newt reached over to put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Chuck just a little at the touch, snapping his gaze up to Newt, eyes a little wide.

Newt gave him a small smile before nodding over to Harriet; Chuck took a shaky breath as he turned to look at her. “Yes?”

“You can confirm that she killed someone?” Harriet asked him, pointing over at Brenda as she spoke. Chuck looked over at her, looking unsure as to what he was supposed to say. Teresa was nodding down at him, trying to tell him it was okay to answer. Newt gave his shoulder a small squeeze to try and reassure him before he let go, Chuck looking back up at Harriet to answer.

“She did. His name was Jorge, her cousin. He was our friend.” Chuck told her, fiddling with his hands on the table. “He’d been bitten though, going a bit crazy… it was starting to scare people.”

“Do you think that justifies killing him?”

“Well yeah, we were just going to have to kill him once he’d turned anyway, why should we let him die slowly instead?” Chuck told her, frowning slightly. “That’s just cruel.” Harriet nodded at that and some of the people behind her started to talk amongst themselves in whispers, even though the noise was quiet it seemed to fill the room as she went to go and speak with Rachel.

Newt wondered if that was it, it didn’t seem like they’d really asked them all that much, just three questions and they were going to decide their fate? The other looked just as confused as he felt, Teresa leaning forward in her chair to look down at the three of them. Newt just shrugged, looking out at the crowd in front of them – a lot of them seemed to be nodding to whoever it was they were talking to and he really hoped that was a good thing, they were going to need all the help they could get if they were going to have any luck getting Thomas back.

It seemed to take forever for Harriet and Rachel to finish talking, but by the time they had the noise in the hall had gotten so loud it was impossible for Newt to even try and eavesdrop on their conversation. He wished he knew what they’d been talking about because from their expressions he had no idea, neither of them looked particularly happy with whatever it was.

Harriet came and stood back in front of the table but this time she faced the rest of the hall, her back to them instead. “Does anyone have any more questions for them before we go to a vote?” Newt looked over the crowd, he was almost relieved when no one looked like they were going to ask anything. Harriet moved like she was going to turn back to them when a man stood up from the back row, Newt recognised him as one of the men that had stopped them at the gates but he couldn’t remember which one he was. Winston maybe? Or was he Fry?

“You said they’d brought the enemy to our door, what did you mean by that?” He asked, sounding a little uncomfortable with talking in front of the group. A few people were nodding in agreement, obviously wanting to know the answer too. Harriet turned back to face them, ignoring the rest of them in favour of talking to Teresa.

“Tell them what you told me.” Teresa seemed a little shocked that she was being asked to speak but she nodded anyway, getting up from her seat so that she could better address the people in the hall.

“There’s an organisation called WICKED that are coming here to kill you. They already took all of belongings, threatened to kill us if we ever saw them again but we heard them talking…” Teresa looked over at them for reassurance, both him and Minho smiling up at her, Minho reaching out for her hand as she spoke, this time Teresa didn’t let go. “They said they’re going to release a group of Cranks on your camp, try and force you all out into the open so they can kill you.”

Teresa had barely finished speaking when the group erupted with noise, people shouting at her, screaming about how it was their fault that WICKED were coming. Some were even getting out of their seats to move towards the tables but they were quickly shut down when Rachel and Aris turned their guns on them. Those who had stood sat back down in their seats and the others quietened down, although not as silent as they had been before, asking question over one another.

“How do we stop it?”

“It’s their fault, I say we kick them out!”

“How do we know this isn’t a trap, maybe they’re working for WICKED!”

Minho stood up after the last one, pulling Teresa a little closer to him as he did. “Hey watch it. We’re not working for those bastards, we’re trying to help you, you idiot!”

“Minho.” Teresa tried to get him to calm down but he just ignored her, carrying on anyway.

“We’ve lost almost half of our group getting here, two of them  _died_. WICKED took one of my best friends away in a van to who knows where, so like  _hell_  we’re working with them. We’re trying to work against them, to  _save_  all of you and you react to that by suggesting we get thrown out? Maybe you don’t fucking deserve our help.” Minho yelled at them, by the time he’d finished the group had become silent again, those who had been shouting returning to their seats looking a little sheepish.  

Harriet though was watching Minho intently, not having moved for his whole speech. Newt thought for sure they were going to be kicked out now, there was no way they were going to be allowed to stay after that. He wanted to just get up and leave but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to get anywhere on his own so he stayed seated, waiting for her to tell them they had to go.

“One Week.” She told them and Newt looked up at her in shock.

“Excuse me?” He asked, Harriet glancing over at Rachel who nodded, before looking back to the rest of them.

“If you say WICKED are coming for us soon, fine, you have one week to help us prepare for it. If they don’t show up in that time then we’re going to vote on your fate.” Newt sank down in his seat a little in relief - even if he was scared about WICKED showing up any day now, at least they weren’t being kicked out just yet, at least they still had some time to prepare, for him to heal.

“And if they do show up?” Teresa asked, still stood up with Minho at her side. “What then?”

“If they show up and you help us keep them at bay, then you can stay.” Harriet told them, turning round to leave, obviously deciding that was the end of the conversation. Minho didn’t seem to think so, calling out after her.

“What about our friend? We can’t just leave him with them.” Harriet stopped in her tracks and seemed to contemplate that for a while, before turning back round to face them, glancing between Aris and Rachel before coming to a decision.

“Aris and Rachel will go with you to get him back, along with anyone else from our camp that’s willing to help you. Sound like a deal?” Both Teresa and Minho nodded after her. Newt was shocked to say the least, he hadn’t actually expected any help from the Gladers to retrieve Thomas from WICKED – maybe they weren’t such bad people after all.

“Thank you.” Newt told her, but she just shook her head, a small smile on her face - the first hint of real emotion from her that Newt had actually seen.

“Don’t thank me, you’re not free yet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry it took me so long to actually get anything posted, I've been so busy with my exams and other projects that I just kind of forgot about it. This chapter is a little longer than the previous ones so I hope that makes up for it a little bit, even if they haven't been reunited yet.  
> Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to get here as this one did, fingers crossed! But anyway, hope you liked it, let me know what you thought!  
> You can come find me on tumblr too at **[newtttheglue](http://www.newtttheglue.tumblr.com)**


	11. Something WICKED this way comes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teresa stood up from her seat, rushing over to one of the windows to try and see what was going on outside, a gasp escaping her lips as she turned back to face them, all the blood seeming to drain from her face.  
> “Teresa?” Newt asked, standing up from his own seat, using the table to help him walk round to her. “Resa?” He tried when she didn’t answer him, the nickname grabbing her attention as she turned her gaze to him, her hands shaking slightly.  
> “It’s them, Newt.” Newt frowned, taking a steady step towards her, placing his hand on her shoulder. “They’re here. They’re already here.”

By the time they decided it was safe to move out from under the car, it was already starting to get dark; the sun was setting behind the trees casting an eerie light over the sea of vehicles. The wind had picked up too, cold gust's rushing past Thomas as he stood up from the ground, causing him to pull his jumper a little closer to him, zipping it up to try and keep the cold at bay.

Sonya had gotten out before him, leaning against the car for support. Thomas tried not to think too much about the wound on her back, the blood from it having long since dried over his fingers. Every time he looked down at them he was filled with a sense of panic, that soon she'd start to turn and he'd be left alone once again, but he knew now that wasn't the case, she had immunity. It was hard not to resent her for it, that she had one less thing to worry about in this hell, but if everything went to plan he'd get himself immunity too soon enough - first he just needed to find the others.

Thomas was about to head back to the truck when he remembered the bag he'd brought with him, turning back to search for it, his eyes settling on the Crank that was half under the vehicle.

"Just leave it, Thomas." Sonya's voice was hoarse from crying, cracking a little as she said his name. He glanced over at her, finally being able to take her in now that they were out of the confined darkness and he suddenly wished he'd gotten them out sooner. Her skin looked paler than it had before, the flecks of dried blood across her cheek standing out more than ever. A large patch of hair had fallen out of the plait down her back, coming to fall partially across her face, blocking one of her eyes from view. She looked terrible, and Thomas had a horrible feeling that she was going to pass out before he could get her back to the truck.

"We can't leave it, it's got all our meds in it, I can help you." His bag was stuck under the body of the Crank, both of it's legs laying on top of it in a pool of blood. Part of him wished he could just leave the bag there, the grey material now stained red in most places and already starting to smell, but he knew they'd need it eventually. Hell, Sonya needed it now, he couldn't just leave it behind.

Thomas crouched down on the floor next to the Crank, trying not to gag as the scent of rotting flesh washed over him, the wind blowing it straight in his direction. He pulled his sleeve down over his hand and brought it up to his face, using it to try and block the smell as much as possible as he reached for the bag, trying to tug it free from the Cranks hold on it. It took more effort than he'd like to admit, but soon the bag was free and he was able to move away from the Crank, blood dripping from the bottom of the bag as he went.

"That's disgusting." Thomas nodded in agreement, hanging the bag over his left arm as he held the other one out to Sonya, trying to offer her help to get back to the car. She just shook her head, pushing off from the vehicle with the hand that wasn't pressed against the wound on her back. "I got this." But not seconds later she was falling towards him, Thomas just having time to wrap an arm round her waist to keep her upright.

Sonya let out a groan of pain as he caught her, closing her eyes as she rested her head against his shoulder. He guessed that was one thing immunity didn't bring you, everyone still felt pain.

"Think you can make it back to the truck?" He asked, not wanting to start walking until he knew she was ready to do so. She shot him a look as if to say he was being ridiculous, but the tear tracks that had stained her face stopped it from being all that intimidating. "I'm going to take that as a yes then."

The walk back to the truck was slow, Thomas trying to keep quiet, keeping a look out for any stray Cranks that had stuck behind after the ambush. It looked like they'd all left but he didn't want to risk it, Sonya sticking close to his side the whole way.

It didn't take them long to reach the truck, the sight of it lifting his spirits more than he cared to admit, despite WICKEDs mark all along the left side. He released his grip on Sonya once they came to a stop, leaving her to lean up against the side of the truck as threw the bag back into the back of the truck, rummaging through to try and find anything that was salvageable.

"Can you not do that later?" Sonya asked him, having moved a little closer to see what he was doing. "We need to get going." Thomas reached down into the bottom of the bag, finally finding what it was he was looking for, pulling out what was left of the roll of bandages Teresa had found for Newt just last week. Sonya was frowning at him as he showed it to her, obviously confused as to what he was doing. He couldn't say he blamed her, the bandages had already soaked in a little of the blood from the bag, but mostly they seemed fine and they should at least be able to do the job.

"Lift your shirt up." Sonya snapped her gaze from the bandages to him, eyebrows raised in shock.

"Excuse me?" Thomas felt himself blushing when he realised what she was getting at, clearing his throat as she stared him down.

"No not... I was just..." He stumbled over his words, scratching at the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I was just going to bandage you up a little, try and help with the bleeding. Nothing... Nothing like that." Sonya huffed out a laugh at that and Thomas was glad to finally see a smile on her face, even if he was as little confused.

"I know you didn't mean it like that, I was just messing with you." Thomas let out a sigh of relief, smiling back at her as Sonya lifted the bottom of her shirt up to reveal the wound at her side. He winced a little when he saw it, four large scratch marks wrapped round her waist, two of them only small enough to just break the skin, the other two seemed quite deep, blood still trickling from the wound and down the side of Sonya's jeans. "Besides, when we get back to your friends i'm not sure Isaac would be too happy to hear about how you were flirting with me."

Thomas frowned at that, unravelling the bandages. "Newt."

"What?" She asked, taking a sharp intake of breath as he pressed the bandage against the wound, reaching around to wrap it around her waist as best he could.

"His name's Newt, not Isaac."

"Sorry, they always called him Isaac back at the labs." He was still finding it hard to comprehend that WICKED had been watching them this whole time, had known they were out there in the woods trying to survive and didn’t do anything to help them - That they sent people to monitor them instead.

He wondered how they’d never noticed any of the camera’s, from the looks of things WICKED had been recording them from multiple spots around the camp but none of them had ever picked up on it. WICKED had watched them live out their lives, had listened into private conversations, moments that should have just stayed between them - if he hadn’t already hated them, he certainly did now.

Sonya already seemed to know so much about them, acted almost as if she’d known Thomas for months rather than just a day. It was unsettling, how easily she joked about his relationship with Newt when it shouldn’t be any of her business. "Exactly how much do you know about us?" He asked, not all too sure that he wanted to know the answer to his own question. He glanced up from his work when Sonya didn’t reply, noticing the sad expression that had settled across her features.

"Do you really want to know that?"

"I..." He trailed off, pausing in his movements to think it over. Maybe understanding what WICKED ready knew about them would be useful, would give them a one up later. But if they already knew Newt's real name - something not even Chuck knew - then how much more did they know? The thought made him feel sick to his stomach, maybe he was better off just trying to ignore it. "No. No I don't want to know."

Sonya nodded, her face screwed up in pain as Thomas attempted to tie off the bandages as best he could, double knotting it so they wouldn't come undone on their own. It wasn’t the best looking of things but it would work until they could find something more substantial, until they finally got to the campsite.

"It's probably for the best anyway." He didn't even want to know what she meant by that, the way she was looking at him right then making him nervous but he just pushed it to the back of his mind, there were much more important things to be worrying about - like finding his friends.

"Can you get in yourself?" Sonya didn't seem so confident in herself now but she nodded nevertheless, climbing up into the truck when Thomas opened the door for her, sitting down with a sigh of relief.

He was exhausted, wanted to climb into Minho's stupid truck and just sleep away the pain for a few hours. He knew that just wasn't going to happen though, Sonya looked like she was already half asleep, there was no way he could ask her to keep watch for him, not in her state.

Thomas shut the door and went round to the back of the truck, now that he had a bit more time he knew he needed to find at least some small amount of food back there. There had to be something in the bags, a few tins of beans, some more crackers, hell he'd even settle for one of Minho's disgusting energy bars right now.

There wasn't much to search through, they only had one small bag each, but he eventually found Newt's bag, tucked into the corner of the truck at the bottom of the pile. He smiled to himself as he opened it, what was left of Newt's measly belongings stuffed inside; crumpled clothes, half empty bottles of medication, a tin of beans and a disposable camera - one that Newt found on one of his last runs into the city.

It didn't have much paper in it, enough to take twenty photos, but Newt had used most of them up taking photos of everyone in camp. It'd been fun, having something to take their mind off the terror of their situation, if just for a few hours. The camera printed them straight away onto small polaroids, black and white and slightly pixelated, but photographs none the less. Teresa had hung them all up in the map room at the back of camp, tacking them to the wood with whatever she could find to do so.

They'd all been lost now, left behind with Jorge and Alby for the Cranks - some of the last things they had that made them feel normal left to fade away in the dirt. Thomas sighed, closing Newt's bag to take it with him up front so he could grab the food when they needed it, the trip to the campsite was still a while off yet.

Thomas made sure to close the door quietly when he climbed back into the truck, Sonya having fallen asleep leaning against the window once again. He couldn't blame her, with all she'd been through, what she'd lost, he'd probably want to do the same.

It's almost nightfall when they reached the main road that lead to the camp grounds, his eyes starting to droop with every mile down the long, straight road. He couldn’t let himself fall asleep though, they were so close that he could feel it, knew that his friends were just a little bit further. He could make it, he had to.

By the time they turned off the main road onto the dirt track that led up to the camping grounds his heart was beating hard in his chest. He knew it should probably be out of nerves - they were a whole day later than they intended to be, WICKED could already be out there - but if anything he was excited. He may have only been apart from the group for a few days, but those few days had felt like a lifetime - if he had his way he never wanted it to happen again.

Sonya was asleep in the seat next to him as they slowly made their way down the track, a weird sense of deja vu washing over him at the motion. The walls surrounding the camp weren’t a new addition, he could remember them from before, but the reinforcements of extra wood and metal make them look so much more intimidating than they once had. He pulled the car up to a stop just in front of a large, hard painted sign which was blocking the entrance to the camp, reading the words with a frown.

"People not welcome?" Thomas frowned, reaching over to wake up Sonya. She groaned as he shook her, not all too gently despite her injuries, blinking away the sleep in her eyes as she turned to face him, eyebrows raised in annoyance. "You said they were safe here, what the hell is that?"

He gestured at the sign and Sonya shifted a little in her seat so that she could look at it, dropping her feet to the floor from the dashboard. "I don't..." She was staring at the sign in confusion, trying to stifle a yawn as she turned back to him. "Thomas, your friends are in there, I promise."

"That's not exactly what i'm worried about." Thomas opened the door of the car and climbed out, heading past the sign and up to the large gates a few feet in front of them. He could hear Sonya following behind him but he didn't pay her all that much attention, staring up at the gate before him.

They weren't that large, if Sonya wasn't injured he'd have suggested they just climbed over but as it was, she still had one hand pressed to the wound despite his attempts to bandage it, using her other arm to steady herself on the wall. She looked a lot better, but he wasn't about to risk it and besides, what kind of first impression where they giving off if they broke in?

For a lack of better ideas on what to do, Thomas knocked on the fence, trying to ignore the snort of laughter that came from Sonya when he did.

"So civil, here's me thinking we were past all that." He rolled his eyes, ignoring her and instead keeping his eyes on the gate. He could hear movement on the other side, feet shuffling against the dirt and suddenly his excitement turned to fear. What if the rest of his group isn't here? What if these people have killed them already? What if Brenda's hurt them? What if-?

Thomas didn't have anymore time to think about it as there was a clang of metal from the other side of the gates. He had to move out of the way as the door to his right slowly moved open, stepping in front of Sonya to put himself between her and whoever was on the other side. She moved to put an arm round him so that she could take her weight off the other wall, the two of them moving to stand away from the open doors.  

As the other door moved open and the residents of the Glade were revealed, Thomas felt his chest tighten in panic. At least ten people were stood in front of them, each with guns raised to ward them off. He could feel Sonya tighten her grip on his shirt but he knew she was trying to stay calm just as much as he was, could see the determination on her face out the corner of his eye.

"What part of 'not welcome' do you not understand?" Thomas flicked his gaze over to the woman who spoke to them, she had dark skin and long, braided hair. She was the only one not pointing a weapon at them but she seemed the most intimidating out of the lot, Thomas assumed she must be the leader.

"You have our friends, I'd like to see them." He sounded a lot more confident than be felt but he tried not to let it show, not taking his eyes off the woman as she looked the two of them over.

"What makes you think they're here?" He was about to tell her about the video, how he’d seen his friends get taken through these very gates but he stopped himself. If he told them where they’d come from, if they already knew about WICKED, they may not let them through.

"This is where we were headed before we got split up. I know they're here, they have to be."

"I'm sorry, we don't have-"

"There's five of them.” Thomas cut her off, ignoring the shock from those surrounding her at doing so. “Two girls, three guys. One of the guys is a lot younger and another has an injured leg, you know who they are." He could see she knew who he was talking about, saw the recognition on her face and those around her when he explained. She didn’t look happy though, shaking her head as she took the few steps forward to meet them.

“I can't let you stay here." Even though her voice was firm Thomas couldn’t help but feel a twinge of happiness at her words. They were definitely there, they were really in the camp, waiting just a few minutes away from where he stood.

"Can you not at least let me see them? Let them come with me?" He couldn’t even bring himself to care that he sounded so desperate, he just needed to get into the camp, he needed to see them. "Please."

The woman watched them for a few moments, eyes flicking down to the wound at Sonya’s side before coming back to him, eyebrows furrowed. "You have two hours." With that she turned from them and headed off into the camp, taking the rest of the crowd with her. Thomas wasn’t sure what they were supposed to be doing but he knew he damn well wasn’t going to waste his time stood out there, so he followed her, the gates being pulled closed behind him.

The camp was much bigger than Thomas had been expecting, despite the fact that the majority of the free space was filled with tents, each one pitched as close to the others as possible. The woman directed them away from them, heading down a small path over to a pitiful looking building on the other side of the camp. Most of the windows were boarded up, metal bars attached across the front for extra reinforcement - a deadbolt had been put on the door, stopping whoever was in there from ever getting out on their own.

She took a key out of her back pocket, unlocking the padlock and passing it off to the woman standing watch at the door. Thomas glanced up to see there was a man stood up on the roof watching them, both of them had their guns directed on the two of them, watching their every movements.

"You have two hours and then I want you gone, is that clear?” Thomas nodded, not trusting himself to speak just then. He was about to open the door when his attention was drawn elsewhere, loud shouting coming from the other side of the camping grounds. “Aris, Rachel - go see what that was.” The man - who Thomas assumed must be Aris - dropped down from the roof just besides them, heading off in a run to go and see what was going on, Rachel looking the two of them over curiously before leaving with him moments later.

Thomas wasn’t all that concerned about what’s going on, at least he wasn’t until he saw the look on the woman’s face. She seemed panicked, her calm demeanour having completely gone as she stared after the others, looking conflicted as to whether she should stay and watch them or go after the others.

She must have made up her mind, because a few seconds later she backing away, giving Thomas one last pointed look. “Two hours.” Then she was running, leaving the two of them alone outside the small building. Thomas wasted no time in opening the doors, having to squint to see inside the dark room. He heard voices before he actually saw anyone, voices that he’d recognise anywhere.

"Thomas?" Minho asked just as he came into view in the doorway, a frown on his face as he stared at him in shock. Thomas couldn’t stop the smile that was taking over him, grinning at his best friend.

"Hi." Minho suddenly rushed forward, pulling him into a tight hug, knocking the air out of his lungs. Thomas wasn’t sure when Sonya had moved from his side but his arms were free so he hugged him back, reveling in the sound of Minho’s laughter as he patted him on the back. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

Minho pulled back then, obviously trying to sound serious but his smile gave him away, even as he hit Thomas on the arm, adjusting the strap of Newt’s sword over his shoulder. Newt. Where was he? "Don't you dare leave us again, you Shank. Where the hell were you?" Thomas knew he had a lot to explain, there was so much Minho and the others needed to know, but it really wasn’t the best time - they needed to be getting out of here, now.

"It's probably best if I tell you all together, where are the others? Are they in there?" Thomas was just about to head around Minho to look into the room just as Chuck came running out, slamming straight into his chest, holding onto him as tight as he possibly could.

"I knew you'd come back." Thomas let out a soft laugh, moving to crouch down a bit so that he could hug Chuck back properly, ruffling his mane of curly hair as he did so. The happy feeling didn’t last for long though as Brenda exited the room, a huge smile on her face.

Thomas felt a wave of anger flare up in his chest at the sight of her, letting go of Chuck so that he could stand up. He didn’t know what he wanted to say to her, just that the thought of shoving her back into that room and locking her in there forever was suddenly very appealing to him.

"You look about as happy to see her as I was to be locked in there with her." Brenda rolled her eyes at Minho’s comment, shooting him a glare.

"The feeling's mutual."

"Don't." Thomas snapped, Brenda turning to look at him in confusion. Even the sound of her voice made him feel sick, how could she just go on acting like there was nothing wrong? Like she hadn’t been spying on them this whole time? He thought he’d been mad about it before, but seeing her now in the flesh just brought all those feelings flooding back.

"Excuse me?" She asked, glancing over at Sonya when she noticed her standing there, eyes widening slightly in shock. She must have recognised her, turning back to Thomas looking much more panicked than before.

"I know all about you.” He told her, jabbing a finger at her chest. “You don't get to talk to him, to any of them."

"What are you-?" Brenda tried to defend herself but Thomas wasn’t having any of it, cutting her off before she could spout out any more lies.

"Get out." She opened her mouth to say something else but Thomas didn’t even give her a chance to speak, yelling at her. "Out!" Brenda flinched at the sound, glancing back over at Sonya one last time as she left them, quickly making her way further into the camp.

Minho was watching him in confusion when he turned back, running a hand through his hair as a he let out a breath of air. "As much as i'm glad you did that - and trust me I really am, that was great - mind telling me what the hell that was all about?"

Thomas didn’t know how he was supposed to explain, had a hundred different thoughts running through his head all at once as he tried to calm himself down. Thankfully Sonya answered for him, making her presence known to the others who seemed not to have noticed her until then.

"She's working for WICKED." Minho turned to face her as she spoke, Sonya standing up a little as he frowned at her. Thomas could see how much is pained her to do so, wincing as she stretched the wound at her side, having to lean back against the wall of the building.

"I'm sorry, but who the fuck are you?" He asked, glancing over at Thomas for an explanation but he wasn’t sure what to say. If he told Minho that Sonya worked as a guard for WICKED then he probably wouldn’t react very well, that was a conversation he didn’t need to be having, at least not just yet.

"She helped me escape, she's on our side. We'll have time for introductions later, now we've got to go.” Thomas moved past him to look around the small room, looking to find Newt and Teresa but neither of them were there, the room empty other than the three beds that had been pushed up against the walls. “Where are the others? Where's Newt and Teresa?"

Minho pulled his gaze away from Sonya at Thomas’ question, gesturing behind him. “I'll take you to them, but I don't trust her just yet." Thomas nodded, following behind as Minho headed off into the center of the camp, in the opposite direction the others had left in.

He held his arm out for Sonya, letting her lean up against his side again as they walked; Minho may not trust her yet but he did, she’d saved his life, she deserved his help. Chuck stayed close beside him the whole time, eyes downcast as they passed the residents of the Glade, each of them looking like they were less than pleased that they were there.

They were only meters from the building Minho was taking them two when they were stopped in their tracks, a deafening scream rippling across the camp from behind them. Thomas could feel Sonya tighten her grip on his shirt as they turned towards the sound, Chuck reaching up to grab hold of his arm.

"You don't think-?" Sonya trailed off, not finishing her question but she didn’t have to, Thomas knew exactly what she was thinking. They were too late.

"It's WICKED, they're here." If they hadn’t wasted so much time on the way there Thomas was sure they’d have gotten here sooner, would have been able to get them out before WICKED attacked the camp. He cursed himself for being so stupid at the pile up, if he’d just listened to Sonya then this might not be happening, they could have been safe.

"I thought they weren't coming until next week?” Minho questioned, drawing him out of his thoughts as he turned back to face him, shrugging.

"I think our breakout might have stirred them into action sooner." Thomas jumped as there was a loud crash to their right, looking over to see a huge section of the wall had caved in, Cranks pouring in through the gap left, right and centre.

“Get those two out of here.” Minho told him as he backed over to the building. “I’ll go get the others.” Thomas looked longingly over at to the building he now knew Teresa and Newt were in, wanting nothing more than to see them just one last time in case something happened during their escape. But as the sounds of panic grew louder around them, Chuck tugging on his arm to get him to move he knew he had to go, he had to leave them.

Minho would keep them safe. He had too.  
  


* * *

Newt just wanted to go to sleep. Wanted to curl up on the floor, ignore the arguing going on around him and just sleep for a few hours. It didn’t look like that was going to be happening any time soon though, their work for the day being long from over.

After their interrogation the day before, Harriet had instructed both him and Teresa to tell them everything they knew about WICKED so that they could come up with some sort of plan to stop them from attacking the camp, or at least to fight back. The only problem was Newt didn’t actually know a lot, only what Teresa had told him and even then that wasn’t going to be much use to anyone.

It was getting frustrating to say the least, Winston and Frypan - the two men who had stopped them at the gates the day before - had been tasked to stay with them, find out what they knew. Teresa had told them everything at least ten times now but they kept demanding they knew more, that there was something they weren’t telling them and Newt was starting to get fed up of it.

“What more do you want us to say?” Teresa was asking, arms crossed against her chest as she stared Winston down. “That’s all we know! WICKED will be coming here in a few days to kill you all so why don’t you start trying to figure out how we’re going to stop it rather than threatening us? We don’t know anything else.”

Winston didn’t seem convinced, his hand tightening on the gun in his pocket as he glared up at Teresa. She just raised her eyebrows as if daring him to shoot her, obviously just as annoyed with their situation as Newt was. It wasn’t until Frypan dropped his hand onto Winston’s shoulder that he relaxed, letting go of his hold on the gun as he backed off back to the table Newt was sat at.

“Fine, what do you suggest we do?” They may not have their own map of the area anymore, but thankfully the glade had created their own, one that was much more detailed than theirs had ever been. The main camp was in the centre, the woods surrounding it - any clearings in the trees had been marked on too, places it would be easy for WICKED to hide out and wait for them.

“We need to plan an escape route.” Newt told them, leaning forward against the table from his chair, tapping the main entrance. “Because there’s no way we’re going to be able to leave from the front doors.” Frypan was nodding next to him, taking the seat to his left.

“Where do you suggest we go then?” Newt looked over the map again, something he’d been doing for the past hour now but he still only had one idea and even that wasn’t all that promising.

“Back here.” He leant over the map to tap the area where the small building they’d be kept in was. “The tree’s are really dense, much more so that anywhere else around the camp so it’s unlikely WICKED will attack from there. It’ll be too hard for them to move around and still stay away from any stray Cranks.” He explained, leaning back down in his seat. “I reckon if we go over the fence there we’ve got a better shot at getting away unseen.”

“That’s your plan?” Winston asked, frowning down at the map from where he stood at the head of the table. “Just run away and leave all our stuff behind for them to take?” Teresa sighed, dropping down in the remaining seat at the table.

“What are you more concerned about, your life or your belongings? Because I know which i’d choose.” Winston scratched at the back of his neck, glancing over at Frypan who was looking up at him thoughtfully.

“Hey man, don’t look at me.” Frypan told him, hands raised in mock surrender. “I ain’t got any other ideas.” Winston shook his head, looking back over at Newt.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” He wasn’t, not ever in the slightest, but it was the only idea he had. They were already trapped in their own walls, surrounded by forces they couldn’t even begin to understand and his only idea was to escape over the strongest spot their defences. He knew it wasn’t a great plan, knew in his heart that it probably wouldn’t work, but they had to try.

“It’ll work.” He told them, trying to sound as confident as he possibly could. It seemed to work well enough, Winston nodding as he made to fold up the map again, Teresa letting out a sigh of relief next to him. “Will you help us now?” Winston stilled in his movements, looking back up at the two of them, something akin to sadness on his features.

“Look, I know he’s your friend but from what you’ve told us about WICKED, you guy’s aren’t getting him back.” Part of Newt thought Winston was probably right, if WICKED were planning on killing them all anyway then Thomas was likely already dead. The other part of him, the part that he was adamant on listening to, knew that Thomas was still alive. Somewhere out there Thomas was alive and waiting for them to come get him, there was no way he was leaving him to suffer if there was still a chance they could save him.

“He’s not just our friend, he’s my brother.” Teresa spoke up, her voice wavering slightly as she spoke. “I don’t care if you think he’s dead, or if it’s impossible, we’re going to go and get him back.”

“Well you can count me ou-” Winston was cut off by a loud crash outside the building, a muffled scream sounding not long after. Teresa stood up from her seat, rushing over to one of the windows to try and see what was going on outside, a gasp escaping her lips as she turned back to face them, all the blood seeming to drain from her face.

“Teresa?” Newt asked, standing up from his own seat, using the table to help him walk round to her. “Resa?” He tried when she didn’t answer him, the nickname grabbing her attention as she turned her gaze to him, her hands shaking slightly.

“It’s them, Newt.” Newt frowned, taking a steady step towards her, placing his hand on her shoulder. “They’re here. They’re already here.” Newt didn’t have chance to ask her what she meant because suddenly the door was flying open, hitting the wall with a thud as Minho came running in, panic evident on his features.

“Minho?” He asked as he jogged over to the two of them. “What the hell is going on?”

“It’s WICKED. They followed Thomas, they’re here. We need to leave, now.” Newt wasn’t sure he’d caught all of what Minho had said, his breath catching in his throat as he spoke. They’d followed Thomas here? That meant he was safe, meant he’d gotten away somehow.

“Thomas is here?” Teresa asked, coming out of her momentary lapse at the mention of her brother. “But how?”

“He said he’ll explain everything later but now we’ve got to go.” Newt didn’t even question it when Minho lead them back out of the room, Teresa wrapping an arm around his waist to help him to walk better as they followed behind, Newt’s arm held securely around her shoulders so he wouldn’t lose her.

The shouting just got louder as they left the building, Winston and Frypan following close behind them, splitting off from the group as soon as they were outside. Newt had to steady his breathing once he saw what was going on, Cranks were starting to flood the enclosed area of the camp, people running for the fences every which way, hardly anyone attempting to fight back as they went.

Newt instinctively reached behind him for his sword, remembering he’d left it in the building across the other side of the camp the day before. He cursed himself for leaving it behind, even if he couldn’t walk well on his own he could at least attempt to fight if he had his sword, could try and help the others as best he could.

He was drawn out of his trance when Minho called Teresa’ name, drawing his attention back over to his friend just in time for him to throw over Newt’s sword, sheath and all. Teresa caught it, putting the strap over her shoulder as she nodded at Minho.

“They went this way, come on!” Newt assumed by they he meant Thomas and the others but he had no chance to ask, following Minho as they went across the camp. Newt and Teresa could barely keep up with Minho and he knew that was his fault, he tried his best to run but with the splint on his leg he just couldn’t move properly, was slowing them down immensely.

It wasn’t long before he heard the familiar groaning of the Cranks behind him, terror flaring up in his chest as he tried to move faster. Minho had stopped in front of them by the fire at the sound, looking between the Cranks and the fence before making his decision. He grabbed hold of the axe that had been dropped near the pile of wood, holding it tight in both hands.

“Get over the wall, i’ll meet you there.” He didn’t give them any chance to argue, rushing past them and swinging down hard with the axe. Newt turned away just as the familiar noise of crunching bone sounded, pulling Teresa away from where she obviously wanted to stay and help Minho. Newt knew he could handle himself by now, Minho was the strongest out of all of them, he could take a few Cranks. At least he hoped so, he couldn’t lose him, not now that they were so close to all being together again.  

The walls felt miles off with how slow they were moving, Teresa dragging him along to move faster as best she could. He could feel her breathing growing more rapid, knew that she was just as scared as he was but she wasn’t letting it show, determination set on her features as they pushed on. They were just about to round the corner of the small building they’d been kept in when there was a loud crash to their side, a group of Cranks having veered off from the main crowd to follow them.

"Teresa, on your left!" Newt dropped his hold around Teresa's shoulders and leant away against a nearby tree as she drew the sword from its sheath, swinging round hard to her left and burying it deep into the neck of the Crank. She pulled back hard to free the sword and pushed at the Cranks chest with her foot, causing it to fall back into the Crank behind it, knocking them both to the floor.

Teresa reached up to push some of the blood from her face, but she didn't have much time to break as another three Cranks came up behind the others, climbing over the pile to get to them. Teresa took a few steps away from them, bringing the sword up in front of her chest.

"Newt, you need to get outta here." Newt wanted to protest, he knew he should be helping, but he was also smart enough to know that he was only going to be a hindrance to her. Teresa didn't wait for a reply from him before she moved back into action, lunging at the group of Cranks heading towards her.

Newt looked over to his right towards the fence that ran all the way around the campsite, over to where the Cranks were still flooding in - There was no way he’d ever be able to get through the gap unharmed, the idea was a death sentence. He looked back around, noticing the walls weren’t as high towards the back of the camp as it was elsewhere, that was going to be his only shot of getting over by himself.

He took one last glance over to Teresa to make sure she was going to be okay by herself, still reluctant to leave her. She'd already taken down two out of the three Cranks and was closing in on the third, so he ignored the feeling that he needed to stay, she could handle this. Newt pushed away from the tree and made his way as fast as he could towards the fence just over 40 meters away; he tried ignoring the pain in his leg, hating the fact that it was slowing him down to no more than a stilted walk.

Newt jumped when he felt a hard on his arm, readying himself to swing back with his shoulder to knock the Crank away. He stopped mid swing when he realised that it was in fact Brenda, dropping his arm to his side as he let out a small sigh of relief.

"We've got to get you out of here." For the most part she seemed to be unscathed, a small cut on her forehead the only indication of the events going on around them.

"What do you think it is I’m trying to do?" Brenda rolled her eyes and moved his arm round her shoulders - much like he'd been with Teresa - and wrapped her free arm around his waist, helping him to get to the fence.

Newt could just about reach the top of the fence when they got there, releasing his hold on Brenda to reach up with both hands. He tried to pull himself up but he was still pretty drained from the medication they’d given him, not quite having the strength to pull himself over.

"I've got you, just don't let go." Brenda took hold of both his legs and helped to push him up. Newt hooked his right arm over the top of the fence and was just about to push up with the other when suddenly Brenda screamed as a Crank sunk it’s teeth into her shoulder, releasing her hold on his legs, causing him to drop quickly, losing his grip on the fence.

Newt hit the ground with a thud, his head smacking hard against the ground as he did. He groaned, blinking a few times as he forced himself back up, he couldn’t afford to stay in one place too long. Brenda had gone silent besides him and he knew she was gone, knew there was nothing he could do for her now, no matter how much he wanted too.

He tried to slow his breathing, quickly scrambling to his feet and away from the Crank that was ripping at Brenda’s chest and back to the wall, reaching up and pulling as hard as he could, trying to pull himself up and over the fence. He screwed his eyes shut as he pulled his good leg up to his chest, pushing up and off from the wall as hard as he could to force himself up.

It worked. Worked just as he hoped it had, but only for a second. As he tried to pull his other leg up he was stopped as something grabbed him, tugging on his leg to pull him back down. Newt’s eyes flew open in shock, the Crank from before having left Brenda to try and rip at his leg, pulling at the fabric of his trousers to try and get purchase on his skin from where it lay on the floor.

Newt started to panic, attempting to kick out with his leg to get it to leave but it was no use, the Crank pulling itself up from the ground as it snapped its jaw, teeth just inches from his leg. He could have sworn he heard someone calling his name but everything became a blur as the Crank sunk his teeth into his leg, Newt letting out a gut wrenching scream as it pierced the skin.

It hurt like nothing Newt had ever felt before, the stabbing sensation rippling through his whole body as the Crank tried to rip away at his skin. It burnt, white hot heat spreading all over his leg and there was nothing he could do to stop it, pulling his leg away with all his might but the Crank wouldn’t relinquish its grip, not matter how hard he tried.

Seconds later the feeling was gone, the Crank having fell to the floor but Newt knew it had already done it’s damage, the burning pain in his leg almost too much to handle. His strength all but left him as he lost his grip on the wall, falling backwards; he expected to hit the ground again, was ready for it but something caught him before he hit the ground.

He tried to push them away, scared that it was another Crank coming for him but they wouldn’t relinquish their grip, hands tight against his chest. Newt tried to fight back as another pair of hands gripped at him, hauling him up off the floor but it was no use, there was nothing he could do to stop them.

Newt screwed his eyes shut, curling up on himself and preparing for the pain that was about to come but it never happened, whatever had hold of him wasn’t a Crank. They were picking him up, taking him somewhere. Where were they going? Newt blinked his eyes open slowly, forcing himself to listen to what was going on, the weird cloud that had washed over his senses starting to fade away as she sound came back, people yelling over him from all angles.

“Minho, have you got him?” Minho, Minho’s here. Newt looked up at the fence to see Minho was sat on top of it, reaching down to grab hold of Newt’s shoulders and pull him up too. He let him, not bothering to fight back, letting his body go limp as Minho pulled so that he was leant over the top of the fence, the wood digging hard into his hip.

“I’ve got him, get over here.” Minho shouted back down to whoever was with him, the fence wobbling as they climbed over, fingers brushing over Newt’s back as they did so, grabbing hold of his shirt to pull him back down again. Newt forced himself to keep his eyes open when they started to droop, gripping tight hold of whoever caught him on the other side of the fence.

He wanted to tell them to just leave him, he was infected, he’d only slow them down, but as he caught sight of them only one word escaped his lips. “Tommy?” The other boy wasn’t looking at him though, staring down in shock at the wound on Newt’s leg as he leant back against Thomas chest, sat on the grass just outside the fence line.

The pain was starting to become unbearable, causing him to squirm in Thomas’ hold, the burning heat just growing worse. He could feel the tears brimming in his eyes, but he forced himself to keep them at bay as he looked up at Thomas. He couldn’t believe this was happening, he’d finally got him back and now he was going to die.

“We need to chop it off.” Minho stated and suddenly the pain in his leg wasn't what was bothering him anymore, but the terror at the pain that was about to come. Newt snapped his gaze away from Thomas, looking over at where Minho was crouched by his feet, axe in his hands.

“What? No, you can't!" Newt exclaimed, looking between the two of them, but neither of them were paying him any attention, looking at someone behind him. His vision was starting to become blurry again, but he blinked it away, trying to pull away from Thomas hold but he wouldn’t let go, arms tightening around his chest.

“Would that work?” Thomas asked, Newt turned his head to the side so he had a better view of who they were talking too. The woman looked as if she was around their age, perhaps a little older. Newt had no idea who she was but right then he really couldn't care less; she was staring at Thomas and it looked like she was ready to pass out at any moment, her skin white as a sheet.

“Please, Tommy!” Newt begged, turning his attention back to Thomas. “Please don’t do this!” He reached up to grab at his shirt, trying to get Thomas to just look at him but he wouldn't move, eyes fixed on her instead.

“I don’t-" She started, her voice shaky as she looked between the two of them.

“I am not letting him die." Thomas snapped, cutting her off. Newt could feel the tears falling from his eyes as he released his grip on Thomas’ shirt, letting his arm fall down to his side in defeat. "Would it work, yes or no?” She stared down at Newt from where she stood a few feet away, her eyes trained on the deep bite marks just above his ankle.

“Theoretically, if the infection hasn’t spread yet..." She looked over at Thomas, nodding her head slightly. "It should work."

“Then do it." Thomas ordered Minho, tightening his hold around Newt even more to hold him down against his chest, but even then he wouldn't look at him. Minho took a deep breath and picked the axe up from his side, raising it above his head. Newt snapped his gaze over to Minho, pleading with him, trying to pull away from Thomas with all of the strength he could muster, but it just wasn't enough.

“Min, just kill me, please just-” Newt's pleas turned into a gut wrenching scream when the axe made contact with the bone just below his knee. He could hear Thomas speaking beside him, pushing down hard against his chest as he trashed up to try and move away, but he couldn't hear him - didn't want to hear him - the pain all he could think about.

As the darkness washed over him once more, Newt couldn't think of anything other than how much he wanted to die.  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was probably not the reunion anyone was hoping for, was it? Newt is just getting all the worst luck here, i'm sorry! This chapter was quite fun to write, even if it did hurt to do so, but Thomas and the rest of the group have finally been reunited!   
> I'm sorry to end it on a cliffhanger like that but I promise all will be resolved next chapter when Thomas reveals his plan on getting them all immunity like Sonya, so hopefully that chapter won't take too long to get here. I can't make any promises though since i'm starting up with school work again next week  
> But anyway, feel free to yell at me for hurting Newt again or just tell me your thoughts. Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Let her go." He commanded, his voice shaking even as he pressed the gun against the side of Thomas' skull. "Let her go or I kill you and your little boyfriend." Thomas felt anger flare in his chest as Aris spoke, turning to face him so that the barrel of his gun was pressed against his forehead, his arm still pressing Rachel against the wall.  
> "Thomas." Teresa warned, but he chose to ignore her, instead staring straight ahead at Aris.  
> "Shoot me and you'll never make it out of here alive. Shoot him and I can promise you, i'll kill you myself."

Thomas couldn’t stop his hands from shaking as they gripped at the material of Newt’s shirt, his heart pounding hard against his chest. Newt’s body was practically lifeless, his head leant back against Thomas’ shoulder, eyes closed - if it wasn’t for the slow rise and fall of his stomach, Thomas would have been scared he’d died.

Newt’s skin was becoming pale as a sheet too, as if all the blood was soon going to have drained out of him. Thomas felt sick just at the thought of it, couldn’t bring himself to even look for fear that he’d just burst into tears. He knew he needed to stay strong now, they had to get out of there before someone else got hurt, he had to get Newt out of harm's way, get him somewhere  _ safe. _

Nowhere was safe though. WICKED’s people were still all around them, hidden in the treeline somewhere out of sight. Thomas had no clue what they were supposed to do now, how they were going to get back to the truck without being seen, but everyone was looking to him for the answers. 

He took a shaky breath, tearing his eyes away from Newt’s face to glance up at the rest of the group, everyone looking worse for wear. Minho had dropped to sit down on the floor a few feet from them, the axe laying by his side, his hands stained red with blood - he didn’t seem to be able to look away from them, despite the efforts from Teresa to get him to talk to her.

Chuck was openly crying, stood just besides Sonya who was leaning up against a tree for support, eyes trained on Newt’s leg. “We need to put pressure on the wound or he’s going to bleed out.” Thomas closed his eyes, resting his forehead against Newt’s hair as he tried to compose himself. Newt was going to kill him if he woke up -  _ No.  _ He told himself.  _ When he woke up.  _ He tried not to think about that though, Newt  _ was _ going to wake up from this, he had to. 

He could take Newt hating him if it meant that he was alive.

He shucked off his jacket, taking off the shirt he had on over a thin t-shirt. The air was cold against his skin but he didn’t care, getting up from where he was knelt on the floor so that he could lay Newt back against the frozen ground. Thomas' movements seemed to stir Minho out of his daze as he looked over at what was going on, shuffling closer to Newt so that he could try and help in some way.

Minho lifted up Newt’s leg carefully so that Thomas could wrap his shirt around the stump. The blood seemed to soak through almost instantly, turning the pale fabric a dark shade of red and it didn’t seem like it was going to be stopping any time soon. He tried not to panic though, pressing both his hands against the material in an attempt to stop the flow.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, looking round to see Teresa was holding out her scarf for him to use. He gave her a small smile as he took it, not trusting himself enough to speak just yet. The extra layers of fabric seemed to be working a bit better, Minho letting out a sigh by his side when the blood didn’t immediately seep through. He sagged down a little as he put Newt’s leg back down on the floor, but made sure to keep pressure on the wound. 

“We need to get out of here.” Teresa spoke up, her voice sounding shaky and panicked as Thomas got up from the floor, looking around to try and figure out the quickest way to get back to the truck. 

In his panic he’d mostly been able to block it out, but now that Thomas finally took in their surroundings it became apparent just how much trouble they were in. The shouting coming from the other side of the walls was as loud as ever - people screaming for help, but Thomas tried his best to ignore it. He didn’t know these people, he had to focus on saving his own, but that didn’t make the sound of their pain hurt any less. 

He turned to face the trees, trying to figure out the best way to go, but he had no idea. He was tired, he was cold, but mostly he was just scared. Scared that if he didn’t think of something soon that they were all going to die and he couldn’t have that, if only he could just clear his head and  _ think. _

There was sudden movement to his left and Thomas turned back to the walls, grabbing hold of the knife in his pocket ready to attack whoever or whatever was coming over, standing protectively in front of Newt to try and keep him safe. 

He dropped his guard a little when the two figures appeared over the top of the wall, recognising them from his talk with the Glade's leader not all that long ago. Aris and Rachel looked mostly unscathed, dirt and a few specks of blood covered their skin but they seemed to be unharmed, no signs of bite or scratch marks - at least not from what Thomas could see. 

He stayed where he was as the two of them took in the group, Teresa coming to stand by his side, almost blocking Newt from view. Only almost, if the look of horror on Rachel's face was anything to go by as she raised her gun at them. 

"He's been bitten, hasn't he?" Thomas glanced over his shoulder at Newt as he nodded. "Then move out the way, let me take him out." 

Thomas snapped his gaze back over at them at her words, not even thinking as he moved forward, pushing hard at Rachel's chest to slam her into the wall. She dropped her hold on her gun as she fell back, eyes wide in shock when Thomas pinned her there, not letting her move. 

"If you think for a  _ second  _ that i'm letting you kill him you've got another thing coming." He didn't even flinch when he heard the safety being removed from a gun somewhere off to his right, didn't have to look to know that it was Aris. 

"Let her go." He commanded, his voice shaking even as he pressed the gun against the side of Thomas' skull. "Let her go or I kill you  _ and _ your little boyfriend." Thomas felt anger flare in his chest as Aris spoke, turning to face him so that the barrel of his gun was pressed against his forehead, his arm still pressing Rachel against the wall. 

"Thomas." Teresa warned, but he chose to ignore her, instead staring straight ahead at Aris. 

"Shoot me and you'll never make it out of here alive. Shoot  _ him _ and I can promise you, i'll kill you myself." Aris' grip on the gun relaxed as he glanced at the rest of the group, lowering it and taking a step back. Thomas released his hold on Rachel, letting her move away to stand with Aris. 

"He's gonna die eventually, can't live in a world like this with just one leg. How's he supposed to walk? How's he supposed to  _ run? _ " Thomas curled his hand up into a fist at his side, wanting nothing more than to punch Aris and just leave him here. A gentle hand on his shoulder stopped him though, glancing over to see Teresa looking up at him, a worried expression on her face. 

"Tom,  _ please  _ calm down." Thomas let out a huff of air, turning away from the two of them to face her. “We won’t let them hurt him, but we need to get out of here.” Teresa gave him a small smile as he nodded, releasing her grip on his shoulder to turn to Minho. “You gonna be okay to carry him?”

“Where too?” He asked, directing his question at the two of them. “You said they’re camped a few miles out in each direction right? Where exactly are we supposed to go?” 

“He’s right, we need to-” 

Minho didn’t even look at Sonya when he cut her off. “I didn’t ask you.” 

“ _ Minho. _ ” Teresa warned as he let out a sigh, looking back down at Newt’s leg still resting against him. 

“Sorry, I’m just having a hard time trusting people at the minute.” Sonya nodded, glancing over at Thomas as she moved away from the tree she was leant against, taking a step towards them. It was clear she was still in a lot of pain, but she pushed on regardless. 

“I get it, trust me. But we need to get back to the truck if you want to get away from here.” Minho frowned at that, looking back up at Thomas.

“The truck? Is it - did you get it back?” Thomas nodded, causing a small smile to spread across Minho’s face despite their situation. His excitement was almost enough to make Thomas feel like they had a chance. “Well let's go get it then, where’d you leave it?”

“Parked a couple of meters outside the front gates.” Minho visibly sagged as he told him, and Thomas could understand why. There was no way WICKED wouldn’t have stationed anybody at the front entrance to the camp, most people's first instinct when getting attacked would have logically been to go out the front doors - it only made sense. If they wanted to get the truck, they’d need to distract or take out whoever was there if they had any hope of taking it, and he knew how unlikely the first option was.

“Damn it,” Minho sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration, seemingly not caring that he’d now soaked the strands in blood. “How do we even get there? I don’t know about you but I have no idea where we are.” 

“It’s that way.” Thomas had almost forgotten that Aris and Rachel were still there, turning to see Aris pointing off to where Chuck was standing on their left. “Front entrance is that way, if you let us come with we can help you get out.” 

“And why exactly should we trust you?” Minho asked, resting Newt’s leg on the floor as he moved to grab his axe, coming to stand by Thomas as he did so. “You tried to kill one of my friends not two minutes ago.” 

The crack of a branch turned Thomas’ attention back to the forest, spotting a group of four Cranks heading their way. Rachel must have seen them too, taking the safety off her gun as she pointed it in the group's direction.

“It’s not like you have much time to be considering anything else.” Thomas didn’t exactly trust either of them, but right then they needed all the help they could get. He nodded his agreement, noticing the relief on Aris’ face as he did. He turned to Rachel, placing a hand on her gun to lower it. “Don’t, you’ll only draw more of them over here.”

She seemed reluctant to just leave the Cranks, but she dropped her weapon anyway, turning the safety off as she put it in the back of her jeans. “Well we need to get moving then, follow us.” As Aris and Rachel headed off, the group followed, Minho and Thomas staying back to carry Newt.

Between the two of them they were able to share his weight, Minho passing his axe off to Teresa so that he had the use of both his hands. 

Thomas tried to keep his thoughts on the task at hand but his mind kept returning to Newt, thinking of all the things he could have done differently that would have stopped this from happening. 

Like if they hadn’t split up on their last run into the city, maybe Jorge would still be alive. Brenda would never have had to shoot him and they wouldn’t have been forced to leave their camp. They could have had a life for themselves there - Alby would still be alive, Gally wouldn’t have left, Newt would be okay, maybe then everyone would be happy.

But that was a lot of maybe’s. The fact of the matter was their whole lives had been turned upside-down,  _ again,  _ in the space of a week. After everything that had been thrown at them he’d hoped they could just live in peace, but as he looked down at Newt’s body lying limp in his arms, he knew that right now that just wasn’t an option. 

“Hold up.” They slowed to a stop behind the rest of the group at Aris’ words, Thomas looking up to see a small building just a few feet away from them in an opening in the trees. It took him a few seconds but he soon realised he remembered it, having passed it when he and Sonya arrived what felt like a lifetime ago. 

“What are we doing here?” Teresa asked, pushing through the group to get to Aris and Rachel at the front. “You said you were getting us the truck back.” 

“We are.” Rachel told her, “But if everyone goes we’re just gonna draw attention to ourselves. Me and Aris will go and-”

“If you think we’re letting you guys go without us, then you’re just plain stupid.” Minho spoke up, nodding at Aris. “Thomas and i’ll go with you, but the girl stays here.”

“The girl has a name, you know.” Minho didn’t seem to care much that Rachel was annoyed by his comment, watching Aris until he eventually nodded in agreement.

“Fine, but the rest of your people stay here.” They moved fast, Minho helping Thomas to sit Newt on the ground against the building. Sonya sat down next to him, propping Newt’s leg up against her’s so that it wasn’t sitting in the dirt.  

Thomas crouched down next to him as Minho went to go join Aris, pressing a soft kiss to top of Newt's head. Sonya gave him a small smile when he glanced over at her, reaching over to squeeze his arm gently. 

“It’s still bleeding, isn’t it?” Sonya nodded in response, dropping her arm to tend to the bandages - if you could even call them that. Both layers were almost completely soaked through and as she peeled them back slightly, the blood just kept on coming. 

“It’s slowed down a little, but it’s still not looking good.” He must have look more scared than he thought because she gave him a reassuring smile, putting more pressure onto Newt’s leg. “I’ll look after him, promise.” Thomas nodded his thanks, taking one last look at Newt before he went to join the others. 

Teresa was stood with them when he got there, passing Minho’s axe back over to him. She looked a bit annoyed at not being able to go with them, but mostly he thought she just looked worried. She turned to look at him when she heard him approaching, spinning round to pull him into a tight hug. 

“Please be careful.” She told him as she pulled away, folding her arms against her chest. “If it’s too hard to get just come back, we’ll think of something else.” 

“We’ll try our best.” She seemed satisfied enough with that answer, turning her attention to Minho who held his arms out to give her a hug as well. Teresa shook her head, letting out a small laugh as she stepped closer to him, only to wrap her arms round his neck instead, pulling him in to press a kiss against his lips. 

Minho’s eyes widened in shock but he quickly stepped closer, his eyes falling shut as the hand not holding the axe went to her waist, leaning down to kiss her back. 

Thomas couldn’t say he was shocked exactly, he’d kind of seen it coming - especially from Minho’s end - but it was still a bit of a surprise to him just then. The kiss itself didn’t last long, only a few seconds at most, but it was enough that Thomas averted his eyes, wanting to give them a little bit of privacy. Besides, this was his sister and his best friend, it felt strange - he wondered if maybe that was how Teresa felt with him and Newt.

Minho let out a shaky breath as Teresa pulled away. Thomas glanced back over to see Minho’s eyes roaming over her face in what looked like a mixture of happiness and confusion. He was glad that at least someone could find some happiness in this nightmare. “What was that for?” 

Teresa just smiled, leaning up on her tip-toes to press a quick kiss on his check before she went to go and join the others. “Don’t get yourself killed.” 

“I’ll try my best not too.” Minho stared after her in disbelief causing Thomas to roll his eyes. He grabbed hold of Minho’s arm to get him to snap out of it, pulling him along after Aris. There was a blush rising on Minho’s cheeks but Thomas knew better than to bring attention to it, fighting off a smile as he released his grasp. 

They followed Aris in relative silence, only stopping to duck down behind trees when they heard any approaching Cranks. Things were starting to quieten down inside the camp walls and that could only be down to two things: either all the Cranks had been killed, or all the people had. Even though he didn’t know the inhabitants of the Glade, he really hoped it was the first option, they didn’t deserve to die like that, no one did. 

As they moved away from the walls and further into the forest, Thomas started to think that maybe Aris didn’t actually know where he was going. Looking over his shoulder he could still see the dirt road that lead back to the others so he tried not to worry too much. Even if Aris did pull something, he was outnumbered, together he and Minho could deal with it. 

He almost walked straight into Minho when he turned back, the two of them having stopped again. He was about to ask what they were waiting for when Minho held up a hand for him to be quiet, gesturing with the other somewhere over to their right. 

It took him a second to figure out what they were looking at but as soon as he caught a glimpse of bright orange between the trees he realised they’d made it to the truck. It was hard to tell from the distance they were at, but it looked like the area was clear, they could just grab the truck and get out of there.

Minho must have had the same idea, glancing over at Thomas quickly before he went to move over to the truck, only to be stopped by Aris grabbing hold of the back of his shirt. 

“What the hell are you-” He was cut off by Aris pressing his hand over his mouth, something he looked none too happy about. Aris didn’t answer though, just pointed back over to the gates. Minho shoved his hand away as they both turned to get a better look, spotting their mistake. 

Stood right in front of the gates were three people wearing the unmistakable military uniform that belonged to WICKED, with what looked like hostages tied up by their feet. Thomas thought he recognised one of them, the woman who’d led him into camp earlier, but he couldn’t be sure. 

He hated the thought of just leaving them with WICKED, who knew what they were going to do with them,  _ especially _ in the hands of Ava’s team. Their actions were completely unpredictable: they could be following WICKED's orders to bring them back to receive immunity, or they could be following Ava’s orders to kill them. 

He knew the former was more preferable, but Thomas just didn’t trust the organisation one bit. They’d known they were out in the woods for months, maybe since the whole thing began and they’d done nothing to help them. They would have let them die out there just to see how their virus was working.

If it came down to it, he’d take them all out to save his people, no question about it.

“Harriet.” Aris whispered, confirming Thomas’ earlier suspicion. “We need to help her.” 

“How exactly are you planning on doing that?” Minho asked, keeping his voice low this time. “You can’t just walk over there and take them.” 

“He’s right.” As much as Thomas hated to admit it, he knew that Minho had a point. “There’s nothing we can do to help them right now, and even if we could we can’t take that many people in the truck.” 

“So you just want to leave them there?” Aris looked hurt at the idea, panic evident in his features as he turned to look at Thomas. “They’ll kill them.” Thomas had no idea what he was supposed to say to make him feel better, but they couldn’t risk it, they didn’t have much choice. 

“If they wanted them dead, they’d have left them to the Cranks.” As soon as Minho said it he knew it made sense, why keep them outside the walls and away from the Cranks if they’d wanted to kill them anyway. Maybe these were the people Ava felt deserved the cure, the ones that had been in power at the Glade - it definitely made sense with Harriet being there.

“Then what do they want them for?” Even if they were being taken for the cure, Thomas had no idea what happened to them after that. He was curious though, knowing more about what was happening could help his plan in the long run.

“I don’t know, but if we can get closer then maybe we can hear what they’re saying, find out more about what’s going on.” If anything Aris just seemed to get more frustrated. 

“What will that help? If we can’t do anything?” 

“I said we can’t do anything  _ now _ , I never said anything about later.” Aris backed down a bit at that, a small frown forming. He looked like he wanted to question what he meant by that but he must have decided against it, nodding instead. 

Thomas let out a sigh of relief as Aris turned back to the truck. Honestly, he had no idea if there was any way to save the people WICKED had taken, but if everything went to plan and they made it to WICKED’s headquarters and that was where the people of the Glade were being taken, then maybe they’d be able to rescue them. 

He knew it was a long shot, but if it got Aris to co-operate with them then he was willing to believe it.

“If we come up from behind we have a better chance at not drawing attention to ourselves.” Aris nodded, reaching behind him to draw his gun from the waistband of his jeans. 

“Okay, let's go.” Making sure to keep quiet, the three of them set off towards the main gates. Thomas stayed a few steps behind, keeping watch for anyone or anything that might be following them. 

He was glad that he’d been able to get Aris to co-operate with them, but he still wasn’t sure he trusted him. Thomas still didn’t know what had gone on inside the camp whilst he’d been gone, all he knew is that when he got there his friends had been locked up - not the sort of first impression to garners trust in his eyes. He made a mental note to ask Minho about that later.

For now though, he let him lead. They still needed his help with getting to the truck undetected. Once they were on the road, if they did anything to break that trust then they were out, simple as that. 

Every step closer to the gates had to be slow, the ground was littered with dead leaves and twigs, threatening to reveal their location with any misstep. Thomas spent more time watching his feet than he did looking for threats, so he only had himself to blame for not noticing the Cranks. 

The snap of a branch off to his left is what alerted him to the group, about five or six Cranks following after them. He quickly looked back to the gates - fortunately it looked like the guards hadn’t noticed them. If they left them be they’d alert the guards to their whereabouts, and they couldn’t afford that.

Thomas reached out to grab hold of Minho’s arm, nodding over to the Cranks when he gave him a questioning look. Minho must have had the same thought, nodding and quickly moving over to the group, gripping the axe with both hands. Thomas followed after, motioning for Aris to wait where he was when he turned at the noise. 

After months of coming into Cranks in the woods, they’d gotten pretty good at killing them. It wasn’t something he was particularly proud of, but it was fact. A fact that he was pretty thankful for in moments like this. 

As Thomas moved closer to the group he pulled his knife out the side of his belt, rushing forward to grab the one closest and pull it away from the group, lodging his knife into the side of its skull. The distance gave him time to drop it to the floor carefully before the next one was coming for him. 

They made quick work of the group, Minho cutting the last one in half with his axe. Thomas could feel the blood soaking into his clothes as he took a few steps back, but he had better things to be worrying about than that. 

He turned back to the gates as he wiped the blood off his knife onto his jeans, making sure the guards hadn’t heard them. All three were still facing the other way, thankfully. Thomas let out a breath of relief, moving to head back in Aris’ direction only to stop in his tracks.

Just past the tree Aris was crouched next to was another Crank - too far for Thomas to take it out himself before it reached him. But Aris was too far for him to call over and warn him, lest they let the guards know they were there. 

“Oh, shit.” Minho whispered to himself when Aris turned round to see the Crank coming his way, panic evident on his features as he quickly got up from the floor, stumbling back a few steps. Thomas only had a second to react before Aris was holding up his gun and shooting, the sound reverberating all around them as the Crank fell to the floor. 

Thomas’ first instinct was to run for it, but he knew they’d get caught. He quickly grabbed Minho’s hand and pulled the two of them to the floor on top of the pile of Cranks they’d just killed. Minho looked like he wanted to protest but he must have understood Thomas’ idea, reaching out to pull one of the dead bodies over them, Thomas doing the same. 

Not seconds later they heard footsteps approaching them, from the sounds of it at least two of the guards had left their post at the sound. Thomas screwed his eyes shut, trying to keep his breaths to a minimum, this only worked as a hiding place if they didn’t move. 

The bodies felt cold above them and he could feel something slowly dripping down the side of his neck. He wanted nothing more than to reach up and brush it away but he knew that would mean a death sentence. Minho’s strong grip on his hand was helping to keep him grounded too, knowing that this time he wasn’t in this alone. He knew they weren’t going to die because of something stupid like this.

There was a light snap of twigs of to his right that caused him to hold his breath, one of them was close to the pile, really close. He knew he probably shouldn’t, but Thomas risked cracking one eye open to see what was going on. It was the female guard that had found their group, she was crouched down near Minho, picking up his axe off the floor. 

She hadn’t seemed to have noticed them yet, but Minho’s grip on his hand had definitely gotten tighter since she’d been there. He wanted to tell him it’d be okay, do something, but he knew anything he did would just make it worse. 

“Lisa! Over here!” The woman - presumably Lisa - dropped the axe back down as the other guard called over to her, looking once more over the group before she stood, leaving them behind. 

Thomas waited until the sound of her footsteps was gone before moving, letting go of Minho to push the Crank off him and get up from the pile. He wiped at his neck once he was free, scanning the area around them to make sure they were alone. 

“I swear i’m gonna kill that kid.” Minho muttered to himself as he grabbed his axe up off the floor. He was covered in blood and a few things Thomas couldn’t identify and as he looked down at himself he saw he wasn’t much better. 

As much as he agreed with Minho in that second, he knew that they still needed to find Aris and get back to the truck. So he headed off in the direction they’d last seen him, making sure to keep look out for the two guards on their way. 

They stopped by the Crank Aris had killed, but hewas no longer there. “He must have moved after he realised they’d be coming this way.” Minho gave him a look as if to say he was stating the obvious, pushing past him to move further into the trees - Thomas stood up to follow him. 

It didn’t take them long to find Aris, Thomas spotted him crouched behind some bushes just a few feet from the main gates. The guards were back there too now, apparently not having found what they were looking for. Thomas was about to cross the path to get to him when he heard voices coming from the gates. 

He gestured for Minho to follow him instead, the two of them moving closer to the gates so they could hear what was being said. The woman from before was talking with one of the other guards, a taller man with short, dark brown hair. Thomas crouched down behind one of the trees, Minho stopping besides him.

“These are definitely the ones we need?” The man was asking, watching the five captives they had kneeling in front of the gates. From here Thomas could see that they were all mostly unharmed, one of them had a large cut on their cheek but besides that they seemed fine.

“Most of them at least. Some of them got bit or taken down before we could get to them.” Despite the fact that he didn’t know these people, didn’t even know who it was they could be talking about, he still felt bad that they’d died. 

He couldn’t help but think that if he’d done a better job of making it out of WICKED without being seen, if he’d never been taken in the first place, the attack on the camp would never have been pushed forward and more people would have been able to make it out alive. 

He knew he shouldn’t think like that though, the attack would have happened no matter what he did. Delaying it wouldn’t have made all that much of a difference, people still would have died. 

“But how can you be sure?” Lisa turned to look up at the man, being at least a head shorter but no less intimidating, to raise her eyebrows.

“I’ve watched this camp for two months straight, I think I’d know if we had the wrong people. They asked for the group leaders to be taken to the compound, these are the group leaders… Give or take a few,” The man huffed out a laugh, nodding as he turned back to the group.

“Alright, I trust you. What about camp A?” She shrugged at that, nodding over at the other guard that was with them.

“That was his job.” Thomas remembered Ava talking about camp A back at WICKED, talking about  _ their _ camp when she did. The man at the front must have been in charge of watching them, like Lisa apparently had been for the Glade. It was weird to think that he’d been spying on them for months and Thomas knew nothing about him at all, he couldn’t even see his face. 

“Ava’s not going to be happy, she needed them.” Both of them seemed to sag, if Thomas could see their faces he’d have guessed they probably looked worried.

“They’ll turn up, they always do and when that happens, Ava will have what she wants.” Thomas turned to face away from the group, leaning back against the tree to think. These few of the Gladers were definitely being taken to the WICKED compound - he’d been hoping that they wouldn’t find anything out, that maybe he wouldn't feel obligating into helping them, but now that he knew that WICKED were taking them he knew he’d have to do something about it. 

Minho wouldn’t be happy about it, he doubted many of the other would be either, but it was the right thing to do. Besides, he’d promised Aris they’d try to help, he didn’t like to go back on his promises. 

He was about to stand up from his spot behind the tree to go and get Aris when Minho quickly pulled him back down, shaking his head frantically. Thomas frowned, looking over his shoulder when Minho gestured back over to the gates. He could have sworn his heart stopped in his chest for a few seconds when he saw who had come to join the guards. 

"The group from camp A, where are they?" Thomas swallowed the lump in his throat as Ava spoke, crouching down further to make sure the two of them wouldn’t be seen. She’d gone straight over to the other guard, the one who seemed to be in charge of their group. 

"We lost them, they got out over the walls." He sounded terrified and Thomas couldn’t exactly blame him, he’d hate to be on the receiving end of whatever punishment Ava had in mind for him.

"You were supposed to have this place surrounded!" She yelled, obviously not caring about drawing any Cranks their way. The other two guards must have been thinking about that though, drawing their guns at her yelling.

"The Cranks were harder to control than we anticipated, we lost some of our own out here. I-..” 

"I don't care about that, I want those kids found, some of them will prove invaluable to us.” The guard nodded, but took a step back from her none the less. His voice shook a little as he spoke. 

“It’s too dangerous, we’ll just risk losing more people to th-” Thomas flinched as Ava started yelling again, lunging towards the guard with a knife he hadn’t even noticed. Thomas quickly turned away as Ava slashed at the guard's throat, but the thud of his body hitting the floor was unmistakable. 

It was quiet for a while after that, the only noises the sounds of the guard struggling for breath as blood rushed from his throat, but soon that was gone too. 

“Anyone else got any excuses?” No one answered. “Good, no-one leaves until we find them  _ and _ that stowaway guard too. Get this lot out of my sight and then straight back to your posts, am I understood?” 

“Yes ma'am.” Thomas waited a few seconds before he risked glancing over at the group. He let out a breath of air when he saw Ava had left in the direction she’d come before, the two remaining guards scrambling to get their captives stood up so that they could follow Ava’s orders. 

He looked back over at Minho when he stood, nodding back over at Aris who was still crouched behind a tree across the road. Thomas pushed himself up and headed off after Minho, checking to make sure they were still in the clear. 

By the time they made it back to Aris they guards had gone, giving them the opening they needed to get to the truck, but Aris wasn’t moving.

“Aris.” Minho tried, waving a hand in front of his face. Aris blinked up at him as he stood up, but he looked right back at the gates as soon as he did, down at the dead guard. “Dude, we’ve got to get out of here whilst they’re gone, that guy doesn’t mean anything.” Aris turned his attention back to Minho, letting out a deep breath as he nodded. He was clearly still upset about leaving Harriet behind, but he took off towards the truck anyway - maybe they could trust him and Rachel after all. 

The truck was still unlocked when they got there, Minho hopping straight into the front seat with a grin on his face, Thomas climbing into the back after him. He kept watch out the back windows as Aris climbed into the front seat next to Minho, the two of them searching for the keys. 

The truck rumbled to life when Minho found the keys, letting out a short laugh as he pulled it into reverse and down the dirt. Thomas didn’t understand how being back in the truck could have lifted Minho’s spirits so quickly but he wasn’t about to complain. 

It takes them hardly any time at all to get back to the building where they left everyone, Thomas and Minho hopping out the truck as soon as they pull up to the building. Minho left the engine running, Aris moving into his seat so that they could move off as soon as everyone was in. 

The door to the building was pushed open quickly, Sonya and Chuck moving out with a few bags filled with supplies. Thomas wanted to ask what they’d found but he knew they didn’t have time, letting them move past to put things into the trunk. Teresa and Rachel came out seconds later, carrying Newt between them. 

Thomas rushed forward to take the weight from Rachel, letting her go back to grab some more things before she joined the others in the truck. 

“The hell happened to you guys?” Teresa asked as they carried Newt towards the back of the truck. Thomas had kind of forgotten how they must look to the others, covered in blood and dirt, but they really didn’t have time to explain. Someone was going to notice soon that the truck was missing, and they needed to be gone before that happened. 

“I’ll tell you later, you got him?”  Teresa nodded and together they lifted Newt into the back of the truck, putting him down carefully against the bags still left in the trunk. Minho had already climbed into the trunk, ready to help them carry him over, taking Newt’s weight so that he could climb into the trunk.

He quickly hopped over the side, Minho maneuvering Newt as he did to help get him into a better position. Teresa waited by the side to make sure they were sorted before she headed to the front of the truck, gently squeezing Minho’s arm as she left.

Thomas let out a sigh as he leant back against the cool metal of the truck, Newt now sat up against his chest, his head resting on Thomas' shoulder. What was left of Newt's leg was resting on Minho's lap, his hands shaking as he pressed against the material covering the wound.

There was a sudden jolt as the truck moved forward, Minho quickly grabbing onto the side at the movement so that he didn’t fall. He let out a sigh as soon as he’d caught his balance again, moving back to put pressure on the wound. 

Whatever they’d managed to find in that building was definitely helping, the bleeding had slowed down a bit since they’d left and the fabric keeping it all together seemed clean - despite its now red colour. Thomas couldn’t be more thankful that it looked to be going okay, but he knew they weren’t out of the woods yet.

As they sped away from the camp Thomas allowed himself to relax a bit. No one seemed to be following them, they hadn’t come across anyone out on the road yet and they’d been able to get away with everyone still alive. Well, mostly everyone. He’d forgotten until now, but they’d lost Brenda back at the Glade.

He couldn’t exactly say he was sad about that, knowing that Brenda had been spying on them for so long, but it had looked like she’d died trying to help Newt and that was something he’d be eternally grateful for, even if she had betrayed them. 

"He's gonna kill me if he wakes up." Minho muttered to himself, drawing Thomas’ attention back up to him. 

"When." Minho startled at Thomas' word, looking up at him with a frown on his face. 

"What?"

" _ When  _ he wakes up." Minho sighed, shaking his head as he glanced down at Newt. 

"Thomas, you know there's a chance that he might not, right? This could kill him or  _ worse _ , it might not have even worked." A gust of cold air rushed past the truck as the engine started up, Thomas moving to wrap his arms around Newt in an attempt to stay warm. “I mean Aris has a point, it’s going to be hard living in a world like this when you can’t run away from what’s trying to kill you.”

"I know that, but it's going to work, we’ll find a way to make it work.” He knew even as he said it that the chances of saving Newt now were pretty slim. They had no idea how the virus worked, for all they knew he could still be infected, just waiting to turn, but he couldn’t think like that. The only thing that was keeping him from breaking down was the hope that Newt was going to make it out of this alive. “It has too, I just need more time."

Minho frowned up at him then and Thomas realised that with all the chaos since he’d found them, he hadn’t had chance to explain what he’d found out at WICKED. "More time for what?"

"It's kind of hard to explain." Minho huffed out a laugh at that, shaking his head as he looked down at his blood stained hands. 

"I'm not exactly going anywhere, Thomas." Thomas couldn’t help the small smile that slipped out at Minho’s words, at how true they were. Minho always had his back and he hoped that when he explained to him his plan to save them - or at least grant them better protection - he’d want to help like he always did. 

“I know how to get us immunity from the virus.” Minho just stared at him in amazement for a while and Thomas wasn’t exactly shocked. He was still finding it a little hard to comprehend the fact that there was a way to everyone from becoming infected with the flare too. Now that he’d seen it with Sonya though, how she’d been scratched and nothing had happened to her, he knew it must be true and he knew they needed to get it.

“What? How is that even possible?” 

“WICKED has a way of immunising people. Sonya has it, so did Brenda, Jorge… Gally too.” He knew Minho would be angry to hear about Gally and the others, but if he was telling him everything, then he couldn’t keep it to himself. 

“Hold up, you’re saying Gally knew how to get us a cure this whole time and he didn't tell us? That  _ shank _ ,” Minho shouted, slamming his fist against the side of the truck in frustration. “I swear I could kill him.” 

“I’m only alive right now because of him, Minho. He could be our key for getting into the WICKED compound.” Minho looked confused by the whole thing but he calmed himself down, letting out a breath of air as they turned a sharp corner, the truck rattling a little as it did. 

“You want to go back there? Thomas, I know you want to help those people from the Glade, but you only just got out. Besides, they were gonna kick us out any day now, why should we help them?” He knew Minho was right, going back to WICKED could be a suicide mission, but if they didn’t go they’d soon end up dead anyway. 

“We  _ need _ that immunity, Minho. It's the only way we’ll ever be safe out here, we  _ have _ to. Helping get those people out is just another reason to go, I can’t just leave them behind.”

“You know I’ll back you if this is your plan, one hundred percent, but are sure about this?” Thomas nodded, looking back down at Newt. His skin was so cold as he linked their fingers together, his skin white as a sheet. Maybe he couldn’t save Newt, maybe that was too late, but if he could stop everyone else from having the same fate, he’d gladly risk his own life for it. 

“If getting immunity is what it takes to keep people safe, then that’s what i’m going to do.”

“For Newt, right?” He knew it probably seemed like it right then, but Newt wasn’t the only one he was thinking about when he said they needed to get the cure. Sure, that was important to him right now, but so was helping Teresa. So was helping Minho and Chuck, even Rachel and Aris to an extent. He wanted to help his family, he wanted to save everyone, if he could. 

“For  _ everyone _ . I don’t want to lose Newt, I  _ can’t _ . But I don’t want to loose any of you either.” Minho nodded, glancing through the window of the truck to where was sat in the front seat. She seemed to be giving Aris directions, Thomas still had no idea where they were going but he trusted her, she’d get them somewhere safe. 

A small smile slipped onto Minho’s face as he looked away, eyes falling to the treeline as they sped past. “Yeah, I know the feeling.” Minho must have noticed Thomas watching him, because he nervously glanced his way. “Sorry, I just meant-..”

“I know what you mean, Min.” Minho seemed to relax a little, the smile coming back to his face.

“I thought you might be mad.” Thomas shook his head.

“You kidding? If there was anyone i’d want to look out for T, it’d be you. Besides, I kind of saw it coming.” Minho frowned at that, a small blush rising on his cheeks that Thomas chose not to comment on. 

“You did?” Thomas nodded, only serving to make Minho blush more. 

“Neither of you are particularly subtle with your staring.” He laughed at that, shaking his head as he looked back down at Newt’s bandages. 

“Yeah, well, you’re one to talk.” Thomas couldn’t help but laugh too, catching Minho’s eye as he looked up in amusement. It was good to see Minho look happy for once. Since everything happened it was a rare moment to see him smiling sincerely, knowing that he was genuinely happy about something was great to see, something he hoped they’d be able to see more once this was all over and done with. 

“Tom?” They’d been quiet for a while when Minho spoke again, Thomas lifted his head from where it had been resting on Newt’s shoulders. “I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but what happened to you? You were going to explain earlier but... you know.” He didn’t really want to talk about it, but he knew he probably should. He learnt some pretty important things in the short time he was at the compound, things Minho had a right to know. 

He knew what it was specifically Minho wanted to know about though. “You want to know about Sonya, right?” Minho nodded. He’d made it pretty clear that he didn’t trust Sonya from the minute he saw her, so he figured it was only right that he try and get him to understand what had happened.

“It’s kind of hard to trust her when I don’t know who she is.”

“Promise you’ll let me finish explaining before you make an opinion about her?” Minho raised his eyebrows at that.

“Does that mean i’m not gonna like it?” Thomas shrugged, nodding a little. 

“Probably.” Minho seemed to ponder that for a while, but ultimately he wanted to know. “She works for WICKED.”

“Wait she-” Thomas cut him off as soon as he started speaking. 

“You said you’d let me explain!” Minho sighed, rolling his eyes as he leant back against the side of the truck again. 

“Alright, shutting up.” Thomas smiled, shaking his head. 

“Thank you.” He wasn’t entirely sure where to start explaining. Did he tell him everything exactly how it happened, or did he just give him the quick details? Minho was watching him, waiting for an explanation as to why he should trust her, so he just tried to explain what he thought would be most useful for him to know. 

“She works for WICKED as a guard at the compound. She was part of Gally’s group before WICKED found them and brought them in. Sonya and a friend of her’s named Ben helped me escape, they’re the only reason that I got out of there to find you guys.”

“What about Ben? What happened to him?” Thomas shook his head, glancing over his shoulder at where Sonya was sat in the backseat, leaning up against the window.

“I’m not sure. He stayed behind to try and slow down the guards, give us a chance to get out. I didn’t see him when we were leaving.” It dawned on him then just how much Sonya had risked to help him. She’d lost Ben in the struggle to escape and now she was on the run from WICKED with them, all just to help him get out - he still didn’t even really know why. 

“But how did they get you out?” 

“Ben found me when they were herding everyone into this big assembly hall, Ava was giving a presentation. About us, actually.”

“What do you mean?” It was meant as just a throwaway comment, something that he didn’t think was all that important, but he’d forgotten that Minho didn’t know. Everything the guards had been talking about had made sense to him, but to Minho it all must have been a load of nonsense. 

“They’ve been watching us, keeping surveillance on the camp this whole time. That guy Ava killed back there? I think he was the one in charge of our group.” Minho was quiet for a minute, seemingly thinking about what Thomas had told him. It was a lot to take in, the fact that they’d been being watch this entire time without any of them knowing about it. 

Thomas himself was still having a hard time wrapping his head around it. They must have had cameras placed around the camp that Brenda and Jorge had put up, probably when they were on watch whilst the others were sleeping. It scared him more than anything, the fact that they’d been so oblivious to what they were doing - seeing the pictures that WICKED had of them had been hard to take, he was glad no one else would have to know just how much they had on them.  

“So we’re camp A?” Thomas nodded, thinking back to what Ava had said to the guard. If he’d been in charge of their camp, then they must be camp A. It was weird to think about them being talked about like that, he found himself wondering how many other camps WICKED were keeping tabs on around the city. 

“Exactly. Brenda and Jorge were working with them too, they’d been sent to monitor us, report back to WICKED.” Minho didn’t seem all too surprised by that. It was no secret throughout the group that he’d never liked Brenda, hadn’t really trusted Jorge either but they’d all just had that down to Minho being wary of outsiders. Now it looked like he’d been right about them all along. 

“Gally too? You said he used to be in Sonya’s camp.”

“Yeah, apparently he was meant to be sent somewhere else but he came to us instead, Sonya says he was trying to help.” Minho nodded to himself, moving to push some hair away from his face, grimacing a little as he did. The blood that had coated the strands had turned hard, flaking off into his hands as he moved it. 

“Guess that explains why he seemed so close with Brenda.”

“Yeah, I guess it does.” He hadn’t thought about that, the fact the Gally must have known Brenda and Jorge from before they joined the camp. He wondered if they’d actually been friends, or if Gally was just faking it to keep them on his side.  

Minho huffed out a laugh, shifting a little so he could pull his jacket a bit closer around his shoulders. “This is all ridiculous, I can’t believe we got ourselves into this mess.”

“I know, remember when our biggest problem was track team?” He’d expected some sort of recognition from Minho, but he just seemed to shrink in on himself, eyes trained on Newt’s leg once again.

“I’m sorry, Tom.” Thomas frowned, unsure as to what it was Minho was saying sorry for. He hadn’t done anything to Thomas’ knowledge to warrant an apology, if anything Thomas should be thanking him for everything he’d done whilst he was with Sonya. 

“What for? None of this stuff with WICKED is your fault.” Minho shook his head.

“That’s not what I meant.” That just made Thomas even more confused, nudging Minho with his knee to get him to look at him.

“Then what do you mean?” Minho looked at him for a few seconds before turning away again, picking at a piece of thread hanging off his jumper.

“If I hadn’t suggested the camping trip, you could be with your family right now. None of us would be in this mess with WICKED. You could have found somewhere safe with them.” 

“You know damn well that’s not your fault. You know none of us blame you for that, right?” When Minho didn’t answer it dawned on him that he’d probably been feeling like this for the past eight months. Had probably thought he was entirely to blame for everything that had happened since the start. 

It definitely explained a lot, why he’d gone so much quieter than he had been before. Why he didn’t joke around as much as he used too, but nothing that happened was his fault, not in the slightest, and he needed to know that he didn’t blame everything on himself, because that just wasn’t true. “Please tell me you know that?”

Minho shrugged. “I mean, i’d blame me.” 

“Minho, if we hadn’t come out here, we’d probably be dead already. I don’t think any of us would have made it in the city, you know what happened there. Newt would have been stuck on campus too,  _ alone,  _ at least out here he has someone.”

“Yeah, but-” Minho tried to protest but Thomas cut him off, not wanting to hear his excuses. 

“But nothing. As much as i’d love to see my parents one last time, I'm grateful that i’m at least surrounded by all the other people I love. You’ve saved my ass so many times too, so no, I don’t blame you for anything and you shouldn’t either.” Minho nodded, glancing up at him with a small smile. 

“Thanks. Still sorry though.” Thomas nodded too, reaching over to squeeze Minho’s shoulder reassuringly. 

“I know, i’m sorry too.” Thomas had to move to hold the side of the truck as it suddenly jerked to a stop, the engine shutting off. With Newt leaning against him he couldn’t really move to see what was going on, but Minho was able to lean over the edge to have a look.

“The hell are we doing here?” He muttered to himself as the doors to the truck swung open, Teresa hopping out to come join them at the back. She leant her arms on the edge, standing up on her tip-toes so that she could get a better look.

“You guys still look like shit.” She told them, a grin on her face as Minho shoved her shoulder gently. 

“Why are we stopping?” He asked her in way of replying as she pushed off the side of the truck, moving to the end to pull down the back side. 

“Because we’re staying here for a bit. Do you need help with Newt?” Thomas nodded, Minho getting up from his seat so that he could help pick Newt up. Together the two of them were able to get him over the side, Teresa helping by taking some of his weight so that they could climb over and onto the ground. 

The others soon left the truck too, grabbing all the supplies out the back of the truck and carrying them all inside. Thomas took a moment to take in their surroundings, confused as to why they’d stop here for the night. 

They were currently parked out in front of a petrol station, long since left abandoned. It looked pretty safe though: from what he could see no-where had been breached and it didn’t look like there were any Cranks nearby either. 

“How’d you find this place?” He asked Teresa. She held the door open as they brought Newt through into the building.

“Sonya told us about it.” Thomas raised his eyebrows at Sonya as she followed them through the doors, carrying a few bags from the back of the truck. 

“This used to be a safe zone for my camp, we used it if we ever needed somewhere when we were out on supply runs.” She told them, dumping the bags she had on the floor by the register. “It was left months ago when WICKED brought us to the compound, all our stuff got left here.”

Thomas tried to take everything in as they carried Newt into the store. It was still stocked quite well, but most of the shelves had been pushed out to the sides to make way for a group of tables in the center  of the room. They were covered in maps and different papers, all seeming to show different areas in and around the city.

Sonya and Teresa were collecting up a few to make room on the table, giving him and Minho space to lay Newt down on the table. Thomas pulled out one of the seats nearby and sat down next to him, crossing his arms and leaning his chin against them on the table.

“You sure they’re not going to look for us here?” He asked Sonya as she went to grab one of the begs she’d brought in, putting it down on the table as she searched through it. 

“Pretty sure.” She told them, taking a roll of bandages out of the bag and putting them down on the table. “They don’t even know about it.”

“How do  _ you _ know about it exactly?” Minho asked, perched on the edge of the table next to Teresa. 

“Gally was recruited to help them with scouting out other camps, he made sure it never got put on the maps.” Minho seemed impressed by that, crossing his arms against his chest.

“Remind me to thank him if we ever see him again.” Thomas turned to the doors when they were opened again, Chuck and Rachel coming in with the rest of their bags. Thomas sat up straighter to look out the windows when he heard the truck starting again, confused as to what Aris was doing. 

He was about to get up to go see when Rachel interrupted him. “He’s taking it round the back, don’t want WICKED spotting it if they come past.” Thomas relaxed a little, scratching at the back of his neck as he sat back down. He went back to watching Sonya as she took a few more supplies out her bag, rolling up the sleeves of her jumper. 

“What are you doing?” He asked, drawing her attention over to him instead. 

“I need to check on Is- Newt’s leg, make sure it's clean and re-dress it.” Thomas frowned a little at her slip up, having forgotten her mentioning Newt back at the pile-up. It was still weird to think that people at WICKED were calling him by his real name - really it was weird to think they were talking about him at all. 

“And you know how to do that?” Sonya nodded, although she didn’t look all that confident. 

“Sort of. Ben was the doctor of our group, he taught me some stuff.” Thomas felt bad for questioning her now, her having to think about Ben. He felt like he should talk to her about it, but he still didn’t really know her, didn’t think it was his place to bring it up. He hoped that if she did need to talk to someone about Ben she’d come to him, he still felt partly responsible for how everything had gone down. 

“Okay… Okay go for it.” She gave him a small smile as she moved over to Newt leg, undoing the bandages that were currently there. 

“Promise I’ll be careful.” Thomas reached out for Newts hand as she worked, linking their fingers together. His skin was still so cold, looked so pale against his own. He sighed as he leant his head against his other hand, his elbow resting against the table as he looked him over. 

He thought back on how Jorge had been after he’d been bitten. Almost immediately they’d started to see changes in the way he was acting, how he’d gotten so angry with everyone. It was hard to tell if any of that was happening to Newt, but he knew one thing for certain was that he didn’t have a fever yet. That was something else that’d happened to Jorge afterwards, he’d started heating up to the point that he’d felt like he was burning. 

At least they knew that wasn’t happening to Newt, at least not yet. It helped him hang onto the hope that maybe this had actually worked, maybe he really was going to make it. 

He startled a little when he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up to see Teresa perched on the table next to him. “You look exhausted, I can stay with him if you want to go lie down for a while.” Thomas just shook his head, sitting up a little straighter in his chair. 

“No, it’s fine. I need to stay with him, I want to be with him when he wakes up.” He heard footsteps to his left and turned to see Chuck had come to join them, hovering behind Thomas’ seat.

“I can stay too, come get you if he looks like he’s gonna wake up.” Thomas really was reluctant to leave, but he was starting to fall asleep where he sat and didn’t think he could sit there much longer. He nodded his agreement, slowly getting up out of the chair as a yawn overcame him.

“Alright. Thanks, Chuck.” He patted Chuck on the shoulder as he passed him, heading over to the pile of bags to try and find his things. Somewhere in there was a spare change of clothes, something that he definitely needed right now. Sonya must have seen what he was doing, speaking up form the other side of the roo, 

“There's a bathroom just past the register, you can clean up in there a bit if you want.” Thomas frowned, turning back to face them once he’d found his things. 

“There's running water here?” They hadn’t had any running water since before they’d left the city, had been washing everything in the lake nearby, the thought of having warm water was enough to wake him up a little. 

“Mhmm.” Sonya nodded. “Solar powered generator, there’s not a lot but it’s better than nothing.” Thomas nodded his thanks as he grabbed his bag, heading off past the register and into the bathroom Sonya had indicated.

She’d been right about it not being a lot, there was a toilet in one corner and a small sink against one of the walls, a mirror hanging above it. It really wasn’t much, but it was better than he’d seen in a long time. 

Throwing his bag down onto the toilet seat he turned to the sink, shutting the door behind him as he turned on the hot water tap. It took a few seconds but soon the water was rushing out, warm in his hands. Thomas couldn’t help but smile to himself as he put the plug in the sink, letting the bowl fill up with warm water. 

He looked up at himself in the mirror as he turned the tap off, grimacing a little at his reflection. He looked terrible, his face was caked in dirt and dried blood, his hair sticking up all over the place. His clothes weren’t much better and he grateful at least that WICKED hadn’t had chance to take any of their things from the truck yet, glad to have some spare clothes still. 

Thomas pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it into the corner of the room before leaning down to wash his face. The water felt great against his skin, he’d forgotten how nice it could be to wash in something warm for once. The water quickly became dirty as he cleaned the dirt off his skin but he didn’t want to waste anymore, wanted to leave some for everyone else. 

He dried himself on the hand towel next to the sink before changing into some cleaner clothes, pulling on his hoodie as well to try and get warm again. He shoved his dirty clothes back into his bag before heading out again, draining the sink as he left. 

Everyone seemed to have settled in once he returned to the room, having set up places to sleep around the tables in the middle of the room. Aris and Rachel had separated themselves a little from the rest of the group and he couldn’t exactly blame them. He still needed to thank Aris for earlier though, despite the gunshot he’d been able to help them get the truck back, he deserved their trust. 

Thomas found Newt in the corner of the room with Teresa - she’d brought some of the bags over to use as support, he had one under his head and the other helping keep his leg off the ground. She smiled up at him as he came and sat with them, dropping his back on the floor besides him.

Sonya seemed to have done a good job with the bandages, so far nothing had soaked through and they actually looked pretty clean. Thomas looked round to see where she’d gotten too, catching her eye from across the room. Minho was helping her out with her side, using a wet piece of cloth to clean up the blood. 

The wound looked a lot better than it had on the road, although still pretty deep. It’d stopped bleeding at least and Sonya herself was also looking better, definitely a lot less pale. She smiled over at them as Thomas nodding his thanks for helping Newt, but for everything else as well - he hoped she knew how grateful he was for everything, he’d have to thank her for that in the morning. 

Thomas turned his attention back to Teresa when she started talking, leaning up agains the wall next to Newt. “We think the bleedings mostly stopped and he hasn’t got a fever, it’s looking okay.”

“You really think he’s going to make it?” Teresa nodded, smiling down at Newt.

“I hope so, Tom. I really do.” After talking with Minho he couldn’t help but think about how lucky he was to have Teresa still with him. Everyone else had lost all their family, but he still had her with him after everything that had happened, something he was incredibly grateful for right now. 

“Thank you, for everything.” Teresa just shrugged. 

“It’s okay, Newt’s family, i’d do anything for you guys. Minho and Chuck too.” 

“And Alby.” Teresa gave him a sad smile at that.

“Yeah, Alby too. I miss him, i’m sick of losing people.”

“We’re not gonna lose anyone else, not anymore.” Teresa just frowned, tilting her head to the side in confusion. 

“How can you say that? With WICKED out there-”

“Because I believe it.” He told her, and he really did. Now that he knew about the immunity he was determined that he was going to help everyone, that no one else was going to die because of this stupid disease. “We can beat them, T.” 

She didn’t seem convinced, watching him for a few seconds before she nodded. Maybe she didn’t believe they could do it, but he was glad that she was here anyway, he didn’t think he’d be able to do any of this without her. 

“Get some sleep, i’m keeping first watch.” She leant over to give him a hug before getting up from her spot on the floor, heading off to join Minho who’d now found his own spot on the floor. “Night, Thomas.”

“Night.” He let out a sigh as he looked back down at Newt, the slow rise and fall of his chest. Thomas moved to lay down next to him on the floor, dragging his bag over to use as a pillow. It smelt terrible, but by now he’d just learnt to accept that, letting out a huff of air as he rested his head against it. 

He could feel himself falling asleep now that he wasn’t having to worry about Cranks or WICKED or anything just for a while. Maybe they couldn't stay here for very long, but they were at least safe for a while - something it felt like they hadn't been for a long time. 

Thomas shifted so that he was laying closer to Newt, leaning forward so that his forehead was resting against his shoulder. Newt's arm was laying down by his side, so Thomas reached down to take hold of his hand as he closed his eyes, squeezing it gently. 

“Please wake up soon.” His whispered to himself, hoping somehow maybe Newt could hear him. If Newt didn't wake up soon, he didn't know what he'd do. “I need you. I need you to be okay. Please be okay."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Newt POV this time, for obvious reasons (sorry again!), but I finally finished the next chapter! Sorry it's taken so long, this chapters been an absolute pain in the arse to write for some reason. Thanks to everyone that's still reading, hope you're enjoying it, let me know what you think!
> 
> (This has not been beta read at all, and I was too excited about actually finishing the chapter that I don't think i've checked through it properly. If there's anything glaringly wrong, please let me know!)


	13. This is Group A, reporting back to base

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt still hadn’t woken up at any point in the night and Thomas didn’t want to move. With his head resting against Newt’s chest he could hear his thud heartbeat. Could feel the slow rise and fall of his chest every time he took a breath. Could feel warm air brushing against the back of his neck every time he exhaled.
> 
> When he stayed like this he knew that Newt was still alive, so he was going to stay here until any one of those three things stopped.

Minho had finally gotten the campfire burning, having spent the better part of an hour struggling to get any sort of spark. Thomas had offered to help him multiple times, but apparently Minho’s pride wouldn’t let him accept the help. Not that Thomas minded all that much, it meant he could sit on the log they’d found just outside their campfire with everyone else and relax for a while. 

It was getting pretty late, the sun had already set behind the trees, casting shadows across the camp. Thomas was very grateful for the fire. As well as growing dark, it had also started to get cold. The heat from the fire washed over him and he let out a sigh, resting his head against his palm. 

Newt was sat across from him on the other side of the fire with Teresa - Thomas couldn’t make out what they were saying but he didn’t really mind. He was just happy that they were getting along. He’d been worried all day that something would happen and they’d instantly dislike each other, but it seemed like he had nothing to worry about.

Thomas watched the two of them as Newt let out a burst of laughter, Teresa grinning by his side. Newt had a hand against his chest to calm himself down when he looked up, catching Thomas’ eye as he did. The light from the fire was moving across Newt's face, lighting up his eyes as he smiled at him. He smiled back and then Newt was going back to his conversation.

Thomas closed his eyes for a few seconds, not having noticed just how tired he was and when he opened his eyes again, the scene before him had changed. 

The fire was burning in front of him, but it was light out, the sun just poking out above the tree line. Newt and Teresa were still sat across from him, but now they were bundled up in large coats and scarves as they crowded in front of the fire for warmth. Neither of them were laughing anymore, instead looking solemnly at the flames ahead of them. Newt looked back up at him again, but this time the smile on his face was much smaller. 

Their camp now felt a lot smaller too. What had before been a sprawling landscape was now cut off in every direction by sturdy walls. Thomas caught a glimpse of Gally up above, looking up to see him and Chuck in the watchtower. Chuck waved down at him, calling for him to come up and see something over the walls. 

Thomas stood from the log, looking down at the sound of snow crunching beneath his feet. When he looked back up again Gally and Chuck were gone. 

Instead in their place was a hoard of Cranks, forcing themselves through the gates as the poured into Camp. Minho and Teresa were trying to push the Cranks back through but they weren’t having much luck, the pile of dead bodies rising up around them. Thomas had no idea what to do, could feel his heart rate starting to pick up as he began to panic. 

He span round when he heard a cry of pain behind him. He hurdled over the log to get to Newt, who was laying on his back on the ground, legs crushed beneath two Cranks. He tried his best to run to him, but the faster he ran the harder it seemed to be to get there. Thomas leaped towards him just as another Crank approached, landing on the ground with a thud.

When he looked back into the chaos everyone was gone, a pile of dead Cranks the only thing left to show they’d even been there at all. Teresa appeared by the gates, waving him over to go and join the others, leave their camp behind. Thomas got up from the ground, looking back at the empty camp before leaving out the front doors. He shut the doors behind him, hand brushing against the wood before he turned back to follow everyone. 

They were on the road now, Thomas carrying Newt on his back as they trailed behind the others. He was getting heavy now, and Thomas could already feel his legs starting to cave beneath him. He could hear Gally talking besides him but he couldn’t make out what he was saying, falling to his knees on the floor with a gasp as he dropped Newt. 

When he tried to turn round to help Newt he found himself trapped beneath a car, a Crank trying to reach for him from the other side. He tried to reach for his knife at his side, kicking at the Crank as best he could to keep it away. Sonya was grasping at his back to try and push herself away from the Crank on her side of the car. 

Thomas was finally able to kill the Crank on his side, just as Sonya let out a gasp of pain. He tried to hack at the arm of the Crank to keep it back, but he just kept missing. He risked his luck and threw the knife, watching as it caught in the Cranks shirt, pinning it to the wall behind him. 

Thomas turned from where he was now stood by a fire, looking round the Glade campsite to try and find where the others had gone. He didn’t want to risk going back for his knife, deciding to leave it as he ran off towards the far wall. He found Teresa and Minho by the walls, trying to help carry Newt over the top. Thomas pulled himself up and over the fence, getting ready to help Newt over from the other side. 

Newt was laying on the frozen ground in front of him now, grasping at Thomas’ chest for some sort of purchase. He was yelling, but Thomas couldn’t stop staring at the deep bite marks on his leg. Couldn’t stop thinking about how Newt was going to die. He felt himself speak, but he couldn’t hear the words, Newt’s shouts drowning out everything else. 

Minho was raising his axe and Thomas couldn’t tear his eyes away. He tried too, wanting nothing more than to tell Newt that everything was going to be okay but he was frozen, staring at the blade as it got closer and closer, until suddenly everything was black, the sounds of Newt’s screams the only thing he knew.

Thomas woke with a start to the sound voices from across the room. He had no idea what time it was but he knew it still felt way too early to be awake. They weren’t talking that loudly, must have been trying to keep the noise down for his benefit, but after months of being on edge he didn’t sleep very well anymore. 

He turned away from them to try and tune out the noise as best he could, resting his head back against Newt’s chest as he curled up against his side, trying to calm down his breathing. That was the first time he’d dreamt in a long time and he wasn’t all too sure he was happy about it. Logically he knew that was all in the past, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that everything that had happened was all his fault. That there was still worse to come before any of it was going to get better. 

Newt still hadn’t woken up at any point in the night and Thomas didn’t want to move. With his head resting against Newt’s chest he could hear his thud heartbeat. Could feel the slow rise and fall of his chest every time he took a breath. Could feel warm air brushing against the back of his neck every time he exhaled.

When he stayed like this he knew that Newt was still alive, so he was going to stay here until any one of those three things stopped.

Thomas sighed when he heard footsteps moving towards him, closing his eyes tighter as he pressed a little closer to Newt. “Thomas?” It was Chuck, hovering just behind him like he was worried to get too close. “Are you awake? We need your help with something.” 

Thomas considered just ignoring him, that’s what his heart was telling him to do. Just ignore him and pretend he was still asleep so that he could stay where he was. But his brain was telling him that he needed to answer, that if the others needed his help then he needed to go to them. Besides, they’d probably already heard him wake up, Chuck was just being polite.

“Yeah, I’m up.” He shuffled around so that he could see Chuck. He looked a lot better than he had the day before. He’d changed clothes into something cleaner, he’d washed up his face and it even seemed like someone had given him a haircut. But mostly he just looked well rested, for the first time in a long time - Thomas wondered if maybe he’d slept for longer than he thought he had. “What do you need, Chuck?”

“They’re trying to come up with some sort of plan, i’ve not got a whole lot to add so they told me to come get you.” Thomas reluctantly pushed himself off the floor, his hand releasing it’s grip on Newt’s to fall against his chest, just above his heart. It was still beating slowly against his palm. “Something to do with the WICKED complex.”

Inevitably he knew that they were going to have to start talking about their plan with WICKED eventually, but part of him had been hoping that they could put it off for a while longer. Just have one day where they didn’t have to worry about any of that and rest. It looked like that wasn’t going to be happening though.

They needed to go to WICKED so that they could stop Ava and her group. They needed to help Aris and Rachel get the rest of their camp back. They needed to go and get the immunisations, the sooner the better, if that meant now then he was going to have to deal with that. 

“What do they need my help for?” Chuck glanced back over to the group for a second before shrugging, sitting down on the floor across from him by Newt’s feet.

“You’ve been there, I think they’re trying to map it out. Or at least Sonya’s trying to explain.” It made sense, if they were going to go back there, then the rest of the group were going to have to know how to get around. They couldn’t just go in blind, that would only end in a disaster. 

Seeing the five of them together was odd. Their small band of survivors had changed so much in just a few weeks and it was only now that it was really dawning on him. 

Where Sonya stood, it should have been Alby. Where Aris and Rachel were stood off to the side, it should have been Jorge and Brenda. Even though he knew they worked for WICKED, knew there was a 50/50 chance they were working against them this whole time, he still missed them being there. Gally should have been there too, he might not have been all that helpful, but he should still be there. 

All of them were currently stood around the group of tables in the center of the room. Sonya was at the head of the table, explaining something to them all over a pile of papers. He guessed it must be some sort of map to the WICKED complex, though when she’d had the time to draw it up he had no idea.

Aris and Rachel had a bit of distance between themselves and the others, stood on the other side of the table to Minho and Teresa. Thomas felt bad that he’d been so harsh on them and made a note to talk to them later to try and help them get more integrated into the group. They’d proven they were trustworthy, the least they could do was make them feel a bit more welcome. Who knows how many people they could have lost back at the attack on the Glade, for all they knew they could be the only ones left. 

He must have been staring at the group for a while because suddenly Chuck had moved into his line of sight again, drawing his attention back over to him. “I can sit with him if you like.” Thomas glanced back down to where his hand was still pressed against Newt’s chest. He counted the steady thump of his heart for a few more seconds before he nodded, reluctantly pulling his hand back and standing from his spot on the floor.

Chuck immediately moved into his place once there was space, placing his hand right where Thomas’ had just been. Chuck gave him a reassuring smile before he started quietly talking to Newt, telling him all about what had happened whilst he’d been out of it. Thomas doubted that Newt would be able to remember what was being said to him but it was a nice gesture none the less. 

“Hey, Thomas?” Thomas glanced back to Chuck as he spoke.

“Yeah?”

“You did the right thing. He might not get it at first, but you did.” Thomas wanted to believe him, he really did, but the part of him that was clinging onto that hope was fading away already. Newt had wanted to die, he’d begged him to just let him die, there was no way he’d ever thank him for what he did. But he nodded anyway, giving Chuck a small smile before he went to join the others. 

He made his way over to the tables, eyes catching on the maps spread across them as he stopped besides Sonya at the head of the table. He hadn’t really had chance to have a good look at them when they’d first arrived, but now that he could see them properly he realised just how helpful they could actually be to them.

Most of the maps were pretty large, reaching from one end of the table to the other. They were packed with notes about the safety of different areas, places they’d raided already and ones they wanted to try next. They even had the Glade marked out on there, although it seemed like Sonya’s group had tried to keep their distance whilst they’d still been operational. 

None of them were focusing on those maps though, but instead the one that Sonya was still drawing up on a spare sheet of paper on top of the pile. It took Thomas a second to recognise anything that was on there until he noticed the hangar they’d taken the truck from, it was what Sonya was now explaining to them. 

“It’s probably our best way of getting into the building, Gally can get the doors open for a short while without drawing any suspicions, but we’ll only have a small window before they notice it’s not regulation.” Minho was leaning against his palms on the table and had been nodding along to what she’d been saying up until that point, a small frown now crossing his face.

“How exactly is Gally going to know we need his help? It’s not like we can just phone him to let him know what we’re planning.” Minho had a good point and Thomas had no idea how they were supposed to get in contact with Gally without getting into WICKED first. It’s not like they could just break in either, that was bound to draw attention to them that they really didn’t need.

“I actually have an idea about that one, but I don’t think you’re going to like it all that much.” Sonya directed the last part towards Minho, who looked like he was about to agree with her when Teresa cut him off instead.

“He hasn’t really liked any of your plan so far anyway.” The small smile on her face was the only indication that she’d noticed the glare that Minho had shot at her. “It won’t make that much of a difference.”

“What is our plan exactly?” Thomas asked, hoping to get caught up on what he’d missed before they went off on another discussion and he was left behind.

“She wants us to break into the medical bay in the complex so that we can get the immunisation.” Minho told him, not sounding all too happy about it. Not that Thomas understood why, that’s what they were going to do as soon as they’d found out it was possible, why was he so against it?

“And you have a problem with that because?” Minho was looking at him like he’d just said something ridiculous, a shocked expression on his face.

“Because it’s  _ risky,  _ Thomas.” When Thomas didn’t reply he just shook his head, turning back to Sonya. “You said everyone that works there knows what we look like, right? That they’ve been watching us this whole time?” Sonya nodded, not looking at Minho as she spoke.

“They have cameras positioned all around your old camp so yeah, most people who work there have a pretty good idea about what you all look like.” 

“Exactly, so it’ll only take one person to recognise who we are to ruin everything. It’s not worth it.” Thomas didn’t understand how Minho could be thinking like that, the chance to become immune from the virus was worth any risk they took to get it. Surely risking getting caught was better than living the rest of their lives in fear of getting bitten, of turning into one of the Cranks they were all so scared of.

“Of course it’s worth it.” Teresa told him, moving so that she was facing Minho better, a hand resting on his shoulder. “If we get the cure then we’ve got a better chance at making a life for ourselves. If we’re immune maybe WICKED will stop watching us, maybe they’ll finally leave us alone.”

“That’s a lot of maybe’s, T.” Thomas expected that she’d get frustrated by Minho’s reply, but she just sighed, her face softening slightly.

“I know, but it’s our best shot.” Minho watched her for a few seconds, his eyes flicking between hers before he nodded, standing up from where he was leant against the table to fold his arms against his chest.

“So how are you going to contact this Gally guy then?” Aris asked, his question directed at Sonya. Thomas had forgotten that neither him or Rachel knew who Gally was, all this was knew to them.

Sonya glanced over at Minho before she answered. “Since your camp was only breached last week, there’s a chance they haven’t gone back to collect their equipment yet. Especially not with everything that went down at the Glade yesterday.”

“What use is a couple of cameras going to be? Surely being seen on them is something we want to try and avoid.” Rachel pointed out.

“That’s not all they had there, Gally and the others were reporting back to WICKED the whole time they were at your camp. They had a communication point just outside the camp walls, if we can get to it and it’s still operational, we can get in contact with Gally.” 

“How do we know it’ll be Gally that replies?” Thomas asked, voicing what seemed to be most people's concerns from the look on their faces. “What if it’s someone else?” `

“Gally was the one that was first sent to look after your camp, he oversaw everything to do with it and from what I saw in the short time he was back they didn’t suspect him of anything, so he’ll probably still be in charge of your watch.” Thomas nodded, feeling a little bit more reassured. 

“So we’re going back to camp?” Thomas looked over at Minho when he spoke, noting the worried look on his face. “That's our plan?”

“Have you got any better ideas?” Minho paused for a second at Teresa’s question in what Thomas guessed was an attempt to come up with some sort of idea, stuttering a few times before he eventually replied.

“Well, no, but there's got to be a better way to do this, hasn’t there?”

“We’re not leaving until something happens with Newt anyway.” Sonya told them. “So if any of you think of something before then, i’m all ears.” Thomas looked back over at Newt then, seeing that Chuck was still talking to him over in the corner. Thomas knew Sonya didn’t mean to sound harsh with her words, but he couldn’t help but take it as that.

They were waiting to see if Newt was going to die, and it looked like maybe he was the only one that had any sort of hope that he’d make it. 

“What about our people?” Thomas tried to clear his thoughts about Newt and concentrate on what Aris was asking. He’d been the one to tell him they’d help save their people, this was what he needed to be thinking about right then. “You said you’d try and help them, where would they be?” 

“They’ll most likely be in the holding cells.” 

“Holding cells?” Rachel asked, sounding a little panicked at the prospect. “What do you mean holding cells?” Aris put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down but he looked just as worried himself.

“They’ll want to do a few tests on them first, see if they have the immunity on their own before they give them the injection.” Sonya told them, “That takes a few days, they keep them in holding before then.”

“But you said most likely.” Sonya frowned, looking up from where she was indicating the holding cells on her map back to Aris.

“I’m sorry?” 

“You said they’ll most likely be in the holding cells. Where else would they be?” Thomas hadn’t even made the connection until Aris said it, but he was pretty sure the room he woke up in couldn’t be considered a holding cell. 

“Like I said, that’s probably where they’ll-”

“ _ Where else? _ ” Aris pushed. Sonya straightened up from the table, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear. 

“I don’t know. But Ben told me that sometimes Ava doesn’t inform the higher-ups that they’ve brought people in, she takes them somewhere else. That’s what they were trying to do with you but someone found out before she could.” She looked round at Thomas at the last part. “That’s how we were able to get you out, otherwise you’d probably still be stuck there.”

“Wait, you know where they might be?” Rachel asked him. “You’d be able to find it again?” Thomas looked between the two of them, from Rachel's worried expression to the look of hope on Aris. He had no idea if he’d be able to find that room again, the whole time he’d been at WICKED had been a huge blur. He knew he couldn’t tell them that though, they were counting on him for this.

“Yeah. I think I might be able to.” Rachel visibly relaxed, sagging a little as she let out a sigh of relief. Aris nodded, sending him a small smile of thanks, dropping his hand from Rachel's shoulder. 

As the conversation carried on around him, Thomas felt himself start to zone it all out. His thoughts turning back to Newt, like they so often did these days. He kept glancing back over to him every few seconds, worried that if he looked away for too long then he’d go and Thomas would miss it. That maybe the next time he looked over Newt would be awake, would be okay.

When he’d had his eyes closed and his head pressed against Newt’s chest, he could pretend that he was just asleep. But now that he could see him lying there, his skin so pale and deathly he couldn’t stop himself from thinking the worst. 

He wanted to go back and sit with him, go and make sure he was still okay but he could already feel his own heart beat starting to pick up as his thoughts just got worse. His breaths were becoming more laboured the longer he looked at him and he knew that he needed to get out of there for a while.

With one last look over at Newt, Thomas took off outside, pushing through the front doors of the store and out into the cold, crisp air. As soon as the door was shut he let out a shaky breath, sobs suddenly ripping through him that he hadn’t even realised he’d been storing up until that moment. 

Thomas collapsed onto one of the benches, his head resting in his hands as he cried, his body shaking with it. He knew it was probably the worst timing for it, but the reality of the situation had only really just hit him. Hadn’t realised just how much he needed him around until he might not be anymore and he was just now starting to accept that in a few hours, maybe even minutes, he probably wouldn’t be. 

He needed Newt to wake up because he couldn’t take their last moment together being what it was. Newt begging him to let him die, begging him not to go through with his idea and Thomas had just ignored him. He hadn’t even  _ looked  _ at him. 

He had no idea how Newt would react to him when he woke up.  _ No _ , he told himself.  _ If he wakes up. _ Thomas didn’t want to get his hopes up anymore, he knew how unlikely it was that Newt was going to make it, knew that everyone else was probably right, but was he so wrong to hope for a miracle? Just one? God knows they deserved that much after everything they’d been through.

Faintly he could hear the door to the store opening again, but he didn’t bother to look up and see who it was. He didn’t care if anyone saw him like this, didn’t care what they thought. He just felt broken. 

Whoever had come outside sat down besides him and placed a hand on his back, rubbing small circles through the material of his shirt whilst he tried to calm himself down. He wasn’t sure how long they sat like that for before he was able to steady his breathing, but he knew it must have been quite a while. 

They hadn’t said anything the whole time and he was incredibly grateful for that, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to talk about it even if he tried. 

Thomas let out a shaky breath as he rubbed his eyes, sitting up so that he could see who’d joined him. He was surprised to see that it was Sonya, looking worried as she removed her hand from his back, letting him lean back against the bench.

Neither of them said anything for a while, Thomas didn’t even know where to start with her. There were so many things he wanted to say, so many things he wanted to ask her. He wanted to tell her he was sorry about what had happened to Ben. Wanted to thank her again for helping him escape WICKED, for helping at the Glade, for helping with Newt. He just wanted to let her know how grateful he was for everything. She’d done so much for them and not  _ once _ had he really thought about what she needed in return, but he didn’t know how to voice that to her.

Sonya was the first one to speak, taking away any of the pressure from him. “You know this is a big risk, right? If even one thing goes wrong we’re done for.” Thomas nodded, glad that she’d chosen to talk about something else. He wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his jumper as he replied, pulling the ends over his hands to try and keep them warm as a gust of cold wind passed over them.

“I know, but if I can help save everyone, I think it’s worth it.” Sonya was sat sideways on the bench, her head tilted slightly to the side as she watched him curiously.

“This isn’t all on you, Thomas, you don’t have to be the one to save everybody all the time.”

“I want to though. These are my people. If I can help them, I want to try.” He could see that Sonya understood, guessed from the way she acted with them that she’d probably felt the same way about her own group. He couldn’t imagine what it’d been like to lose all of them, to only have one person left and to not know if you’re ever actually going to see them again. If he was in her position, he didn’t think he’d be as positive about their chances as she was.

Sonya looked like she was about to say something else when suddenly the door was flying open again, smashing into the bins nearby and sending them rolling across the concrete. Thomas normally would have been worried about the noise but then Chuck came running out of the doors, a panicked look on his face. Thomas felt like his heart was about to burst even before Chuck spoke.

“He’s waking up, you need to come quick!” Thomas didn’t even think before he bolted out of his chair, pushing past Chuck to get back into the store. Teresa was already there when he got to Newt, watching as he slowly started to blink his eyes open. 

Thomas dropped to his knees on the floor besides him, too shocked to even speak. He had no idea what to do in this situation other than to give him a little bit of space to fully wake up. He didn’t know if Newt would even want him there, he didn’t want to push anything but the urge to just pull him into his arms was almost overwhelming. 

He started to regret his decision pretty quickly when Newt’s breathing suddenly started to get panicked, his breaths coming up in short, quick motions as he woke up. 

When Newt tried to sit up Thomas moved forward to get him to lay back down, but even in his panic Newt just tried to push him away. “No!” Newt yelled, his hand balling up into a first in Thomas’ shirt, pushing him backwards. It was weak, Thomas knew he could just push his arm away if he wanted to, and he really wanted to, but he knew better. 

All hope that maybe Newt wouldn’t remember what had happened gone. If heartbreak had a feeling, he guessed this was what it was like.

Thomas crumbled in on himself when Newt let go, refusing to look at him as Teresa helped him up, another shout of pain ripping through him when it jolted his leg. 

Newt let out a high-pitched whimper when he glanced down at his leg, tears filling his eyes as he breath got even more laboured. Thomas made a move to help him, but he caught Teresa’s eye as she shook her head, letting Newt lean his head on her shoulder, his face buried in the crook of her neck as she held him. 

“Please…” Newt took a deep, quick breath after he spoke, obviously trying to get himself to calm down. “Please just… can you… get him to… to leave.” 

Thomas didn’t exactly blame Newt for not wanting him there, hell he’d agree with him if he was in his position. But he wasn’t, and it hurt like nothing else he’d experienced before when he forced himself to stand and leave the two of them alone, watching as Teresa tried to get Newt to calm down. 

Thomas flinched a little when he felt a hand against his shoulder, looking over to see Minho trying to lead him away. He didn’t want to go, was scared that at any moment Newt might get worse and leave him for good, but he knew he wasn’t wanted, so he followed Miho away from where everyone else was now waiting around Newt.

Thomas let the door fall shut behind him, pulling away from Minho’s grip as he went to pace across the concrete. A rush of cold air flew past him but he couldn’t bring himself to worry about warmth, reaching up to push his hair off his face. 

“He hates me.” Thomas let out after a few minutes, his voice cracking a little at the end of the words. “I thought I could deal with it but… _ God _ .” Thomas stopped when he reached the wall of the store, leaning back against it as he let out a shaky breath. “What have I done, Minho?”

Minho, who’d mostly been watching him up until that point, moved to lean against the wall next to him, stood close enough that their shoulders were pressed together. Thomas was immensely glad for the contact. “You saved his  _ life _ , he’ll come around eventually, you know he will.” Thomas let out a short laugh at that despite himself. 

“Since when did you get all optimistic?”

“Since you proved me wrong about Newt waking up. You believed he would and he did. If you were in his situation right now, you’d be pissed too.” He knew Minho was right, it was exactly what he was thinking himself, but it didn’t mean it hurt any less. He knew Newt hadn’t wanted him to do it, had just wanted them to kill him instead. He’d been selfish, and now he was paying the price for it. 

“He asked me to leave him behind.” 

“What?” Minho frowned, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he turned to face him better.

“Before WICKED took me, Newt told me that if he started to slow us down then we should leave him behind. He thought he would be better off to us dead and that was just when he was limping badly, what's he gonna think now that he can't even walk?” He wasn’t sure why he’d thought back to that, the conversation he’d had with Newt out in the woods a few days before. He’d been able to convince Newt that he needed him back then, that everyone wanted him to stay around, maybe he could do that again now.

He doubted it though, who knew what he was thinking now. 

“Newt's strong, Thomas. He’ll make it through this, we  _ all _ will, I know it.” Thomas wanted to believe him, he really did, but since losing their camp he’d slowly been starting to accept that this wasn’t ever going to end well. They were all going to die eventually unless they found somewhere safe to live, unless they got the immunity they needed. 

Newt couldn’t run from Cranks anymore, hell he couldn’t even walk anymore, how was he ever going to make it in this world?

“But what if he doesn’t?” He’d hoped Minho would be able to tell him something to change his mindset, but he just shrugged. 

“I don’t know. But i’ll help you through it, no matter what.” Thomas sighed as he turned round to face him, Minho taking his hands out his pockets to pull him into a hug. Minho wasn’t normally the most physically affectionate person, but right now Thomas could tell they both needed it. 

He was probably holding onto Minho too tightly, but neither of them said anything, because Minho was holding him pretty tightly too. He could feel himself starting to break down again, tears starting to well up in his eyes. “I can’t lose him, Minho.”

“I know.” Minho told him, releasing his grip on Thomas to lean back against the wall again. “Me either.”

* * *

 

Newt had been awake for at least an hour now and he still had no idea what was going on. He doesn’t know where they are or how they got there, he doesn’t recognise some of the people that were with them. The thing that was eating at him the most though was that he didn’t know how long he’d been unconscious for. To him it felt like mere minutes, but for all he knew it could have been hours, days, maybe even weeks. 

He was still sat in the corner of the room, leant up against some shelves that were digging into his back. It hurt, but it was nothing compared to the pain in his leg. He was too scared to even look at it, didn’t want to face what had happened just yet, even if it was getting much harder to ignore. 

He wished he could remember what had happened to get them all here, but everything is just one big mess. He can vaguely recall Chuck talking to him whilst he was out, but he can’t figure out if that had really happened or if he’d just dreamt it. It’s not like he could remember much of what had he’d said anyway, but there was something about Gally and a cure?

But no one was telling him anything. 

They were all gathered around some tables in the center of the room, talking quietly enough that Newt could only make out the occasional word. It was infuriating, he just wanted to know what was going on and no one seemed to be willing to tell him. 

Newt sighed, leaning his head back against one of the shelves and closing his eyes. Before Teresa had left to go and join the others she’d brought over some pain killers - it’d been a nice thought, but all they’d really done is make him tired. All he wanted to do was just sleep some more, but the pain in his leg wasn’t letting him. 

He tried to think back to what had happened back at the Glade. He desperately needed to get the whole picture, to know exactly what had happened, but all he had were glimpses of things. He could remember the attack starting, trying to get across the camp with Teresa as the Cranks flooded in. He remembered everything up until he was bitten, when he fell from the wall - everything after that was just a blur.

The only thing he knew for certain was that Thomas was there. That he was the one who decided that cutting off Newt’s leg was the best idea, even as he’d begged him to just let him die. 

Newt opened his eyes when he heard footsteps approaching him, blinking away sleep. He immediately felt locked onto the blonde woman who was following Teresa, watching her with curiosity as they came to a stop besides him. Teresa sat down next to him on the floor, but the other woman stood by his feet, looking unsure as to whether or not he’d allow her to stay.

“Sonya needs to re-dress your bandages.” Teresa told him. Newt watched as Sonya gave him a small smile, crouching down by his feet.

“I just want to make sure it’s all cleaned properly, the last thing you want is for it to get infected.” He knew Sonya was just trying to be nice, but there was something in her tone that just aggravated him. He didn’t quite trust her, even if it seemed like everyone else did. 

“The last thing I wanted was for it to be cut off in the first place.” Newt responded, Sonya looking over to Teresa with uncertainty. Teresa nuded him gently, Newt’s face relaxing from what he realised had been a glare as he looked over at her. 

“She’s just trying to help.” Newt flicked his gaze back to Sonya, watching her for a bit before he nodded. She visibly relaxed then, standing to go and get some supplies from the back room and leaving to two of them alone. 

“Who is she, anyway?” Newt asked when he was sure Sonya wouldn’t be able to hear, curious to know how she’d ended up with the group. He couldn’t remember seeing her in the Glade, but there had been at least 60 people there so he wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d just missed her.

“She’s from WICKED.”

“What?” He hadn’t meant to yell, but Teresa had been so blunt about it, as if Sonya wasn’t working for the people that had actively been trying to kill them. Newt glanced over at the room to see everyone turned to look at them, including Sonya who was now making her way back over. 

“She helped Thomas escape, she’s on our side.” It’s not that he didn’t want to believe that - because having someone they could trust inside WICKED was probably the best thing he’d heard in weeks - but Newt wasn’t exactly feeling the most optimistic just then, so he tried not to get his hopes up too high. “Trust me.”

Sonya came and sat down by him again, except this time she sat closer to his side, removing the bag from under his leg so that she could rest it against hers. Newt closed his eyes again when a new wave of pain shot up his leg, momentarily blocking out everything else. It took a while, but when the pain had settled down to a more manageable amount he realised that Teresa was holding onto his hand. He squeezed it gently in thanks but didn’t let go.

“I bet you’re probably wondering why i’m here.” Sonya didn’t bother posing it as a question. Newt didn’t bother taking it as one, they both knew what his answer would be.

“I’m wondering a lot of things actually, like where we are for starters?” 

“We’re at an old gas station.” Teresa answered for Sonya as she started to unwrap the bandages on Newt’s leg. “We left right after the Glade got attacked, got here last night.”

“Are we staying?” Newt winced as a piece of the bandaged tugged at his skin, biting the inside of his lip and holding onto Teresa’s hand a little tighter. 

“We’re leaving as soon as i’m done with this.” Newt looked back up at Sonya at that. 

“Leaving?” He asked, frowning. “Leaving to where? Is it not safe here?”

“It is.” She told him, peeling back the last piece of the bandage. “Very safe actually.” Newt couldn’t help to gasp that escaped him at the sight. When he couldn’t really see the damage it was easier to pretend it wasn’t real, but now that it was completely exposed it was painfully obvious to him that he was never going to go back to the way things were. 

Newt forced himself to tear his eyes away, keeping his eyes on Sonya as she rummaged through her bag. “They why can’t we just stay here?” She looked like she was going to respond, but was interrupted as the door opened again.

He was half expecting to see Thomas come back inside, he’d been gone a pretty long time, but instead it was Minho. He didn’t bother coming in all the way, leaning against the door frame to talk to her.

“Sonya, you ready to get going.” As she inspected Newt’s wound with a frown on her face, she nodded. 

“Give me five minutes and i’ll be right with you.” Then Minho was gone again, heading back outside before Newt had chance to say anything to him. It hadn’t even looked like Minho had realised Newt was still awake, or maybe he’d just been purposely ignoring him. Newt wondered if maybe Minho had been involved somehow and he just couldn’t remember. 

He pushed that out of his mind though, because as much as he wanted to know what had happened, he didn’t want to start making assumptions. Besides, right then he was still too curious about why they weren’t staying where they were to really think about anything else. 

“We’re going now?” Sonya had pulled a clean roll of bandages from her bag, what looked to be the last of the supplies as far as Newt could see. He hated that it was being used on him, wished they could save it because someone else was bound to need it sooner or later. It wasn’t the easiest thing to get hold of either, it’s not like anywhere was going to be restocking the shops any time soon. 

He didn’t bother arguing against her using it though, as bad as he felt about it he knew logically that he needed it. He braced himself for the pain to hit him again as Sonya put pressure on the wound, carefully wrapping the bandages around his leg. 

“You’re staying here with Chuck and Teresa.” She told him. “The rest of us’ll be back in a few hours.” Newt frowned at that, just now noticing that Aris and Rachel were collecting supplies from around the room, mostly weapons. 

“Where are you going?” Sonya finished wrapping up the leg, using some tape to keep it in place. She put the rest of her things back in the bag, carefully placing Newt’s leg back on the floor as she got up. 

“I don’t really have time to explain right now, but i’m sure Chuck will be happy to get you up to speed with everything.” Sonya left to go join the others, dropping her bag off on the table and taking the one Aris and Rachel passed her instead. She shot Newt and Teresa a smile as the three of them headed out of the gas station, joining Thomas and Minho outside.

When he looked back from the door, Chuck was making his way over to them, carrying some bottles of water and a few tins of canned food over in a box. He put the box down in front of Teresa, passing Newt over a bottle of water before he sat down with them.

“Figured you were probably hungry, you haven’t eaten in awhile.” Newt could already feel his stomach rumbling as Chuck passed him one of the tins of beans. Back before the world ended he never would have even dreamed of eating them cold, but as he pulled back the tab they looked like the most delicious thing he’d ever seen. 

He gratefully accepted the fork Teresa passed him, scooping up as many of the beans as he could to shovel into his mouth. Teresa snorted out a laugh as she watched him, taking a can from the box for herself.

They tasted surprisingly good, but after so long without properly having anything to eat Newt tried to pace himself - the last thing he needed to was to thrown it all up again. Newt had another few mouthfuls before he out the can down besides him, picking up the bottle of water to wash it down. 

“Where exactly are they going?” Teresa still hand a mouth full of food, so Chuck was the one to answer. 

“Back to camp, they’re trying to get in contact with Gally.” Newt frowned, screwing the lid back on the bottle of water. Chuck made it seem like that was the most normal thing in the world, but Gally had left them a couple of days ago and still hadn’t come back, how were they planning on contacting him if none of them knew where he was?

“Gally? Why do they think he’d have gone back there?”

“Turns out Gally’s been working for WICKED this whole time.” Teresa told him, quickly cutting Newt off as he went to question her. “But he was part of Sonya’s group before they got taken in. He was relaying information about us to WICKED from camp, so if they can find what he was using to do that then we might be able to get in contact with him.” 

Newt had no idea what she was talking about. WICKED had been spying on them this whole time? Now apparently Gally was working with them? How had he managed to miss so much?

“Why the hell would we want to do that?” That was what he was most confused about, if Gally was working with WICKED, surely staying as far away from him as possible was a really good idea. Why would they want to actively try and find him. “If he’s been working against us this whole time-”

“That’s the thing.” Teresa cut him off, putting her food and turning so she was facing him better. “Gally was on our side, still is, the only reason he ever came to camp was to make sure Brenda and Jorge didn’t do anything to get us killed.”

“What do Brenda and Jorge have to do with this?”

“They worked for WICKED too.” Chuck chipped in, only helping to make Newt even more confused. 

“What? But that… Brenda died trying to save my life, that doesn’t make any sense.” He hadn’t realised he’d remembered that, but it was so clear in his mind now. Brenda had tried to help him get over the wall but a Crank had grabbed her and she’d been pulled away before they’d had chance. If she’d been working with the people that had attacked the camp, why would she have helped him?

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around that too.” Teresa looked just as confused as he felt. Newt wished he known this a few days ago, just so that he’d have the chance to ask them why they’d done it. Now they were never going to know if they’d ended up on their side like Gally was - if the were to trust what Sonya said. 

He didn’t really want to think about that though, it still hurt remembering how many people they’d lost. “Backing up, what’s contacting Gally even going to achieve?”

“WICKED have a way to give people immunity from the Flare.” Newt couldn’t even bring himself to be surprised by that. Of course WICKED had a cure. Not only do they actively go around killing people, but they were withholding a cure from them too. “Sonya has it, she recons if we can get in touch with Gally we’ll have a way of getting in without anyone knowing we’re there.”

“And you trust her?” She seemed alright to him, but he’d only known her for a few hours and even then they hadn’t exchanged more that a few words. He didn’t really have much basis to make a decision on whether or not she could be trusted. 

“She was the one that helped Tom escape when they took him. She basically saved his life, and yours come to think of it.” Newt wanted to ask about that, but he wasn’t sure he was starting to get tired again and he thought his head might explode if he had to try and take in any more information. Whatever happened at the Glade could wait for a while, the information wouldn’t change what happened to him. 

“Why didn’t you go with them?” Chuck asked as Newt closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the shelves again. It still wasn’t the most comfortable place to sit, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care just then. 

“I don’t think they really need six people to go look round the woods for a bit, they’ll be fine without me.” Teresa didn’t sound so sure, and Newt didn’t blame her. They were going back to their old camp, which had been completely overrun by Cranks the last time they’d been there. Even if they did think it was important to get back into WICKED, it was dangerous. Teresa was right to be cautious. 

“You’re worried about them, aren’t you?” He asked. Teresa moved to sit closer to him when she noticed he’d started to drift off, letting him lean his head against her shoulder instead. 

“Of course i’m worried about them, i’m  _ always  _ worried about them.”

* * *

 

It didn’t take them long to reach their old campsite. When they’d walked the distance it’d felt like would take them hours to get anywhere, but with the truck it took them a little over half an hour. In Thomas’ opinion that was still half an hour too long, he just wanted to get out of the truck and back out into the open air.

When the car rolled to a stop Thomas was the first to get out, unlocking the door before Minho even had chance to turn off the engine. He shut the door quietly behind him, heading off the the back of the truck to grab Newt’s sword from where it was sat in the back corner. He doubted Newt would want him to have it right now, but he wasn’t exactly there to stop him.

He caught Minho’s eye as he pulled the strap of the sword over his head, tilting his head in the direction of camp. Minho nodded, turning to tell the others something before he followed Thomas through the forest. Thomas guessed Minho must have told them to go on without them, because none of the others followed them, instead heading off in the other direction in search of the communication point. 

He knew that they should probably be helping too, but he just wanted to go and see the camp one last time, have a look round to see if there was anything salvageable that they’d left behind. 

When the reached the front gates they were already open. In their rush to leave after the attack, it seemed like no one had properly locked them. Thomas pushed the right gate open a little further as he made his way inside, holding his free hand up to cover his face when the smell hit him. 

His eyes were drawn immediately to the pile of dead Cranks that lay all along the left wall. He wished he could say he’d gotten used to the sight, but combined with the smell it never failed to make him feel sick to his stomach. They’d been people once, he guessed they still were in a sense, but everything that had made them who they were was gone. 

When they were attacking you, when they were trying to  _ kill  _ you, it was easy to make the distinction. But when you saw them like this, he couldn’t help but see himself as a murder, no matter how much he tried to tell himself he wasn’t. 

Thomas forced himself to look away when Minho joined him in the camp, a grim expression on his face when his gaze passed over the Cranks. He patted Thomas on the shoulder as he passed him, heading into his tent on the far side of the camp. Thomas took one last glance at the Cranks before he made his way past the campfire to the tent that he’d shared with Newt.

The front of the tent was already open, so all he had to do was push the fabric to the side to get in. Everything was still just as they’d left it, the camping mats in the middle of the floor, one of the sleeping bags left open. Their small box of supplies was still at the back of the tent, although it was now almost empty, the only thing left were a pair of Newt’s socks. 

Thomas lay down on what had been his bed, staring up at the roof of the tent. He’d liked to do this during the day, when the sun was directly above them - it cast a bright light against the fabric of the tent, making it glow a bright yellow. As he stared up at the light, his eyes caught on the piece of string that Newt had tied to the length of the tent. 

They’d mostly used it to hang clothes, all of which had been taken now, but as he followed the length of string he noticed something still hanging from the end. Thomas sat back up, reaching for the piece of paper that hung from a peg right at the edge of the string. 

When he brought it down he saw that it wasn’t a piece of paper, but instead a photograph, one of the ones Newt had taken with the disposable camera he’d found. There was a date written on the back in pencil, faded so much that Thomas couldn’t make out what it said anymore. When he turned the photograph over he couldn’t help but smile to himself at the image on the front. 

It was a picture of him and Newt together. Newt was making a stupid face at the camera and Thomas was laughing besides him - they both looked so happy still, he missed that.

“Tom?” Minho called from outside the tent, drawing Thomas from his thoughts. He pocketed the photograph and left the tent, taking one last look before he zipped it up. 

Minho was stood by the entrance to the shelter they’d built, staring at something on the ground. When Thomas stopped besides him he felt his heart tighten in his chest, closing his eyes against the sight. 

Laying on the floor of the shelter was Jorge and Alby, covered by the white sheets they’d found when Jorge had been bitten. Thomas didn’t remember moving Alby there so he assumed someone else must have done it. “Do we have time?” Minho asked, and Thomas knew exactly what he meant. 

Did they have time to bury them. 

Maybe they couldn’t bury them, but they could at least give them some sort of grave, cover them properly from the elements. So Thomas nodded, not trusting himself to speak just them, tears starting to pool in his eyes. 

Looking around the shelter they didn’t have a whole lot to work with. Most of the supplies they’d had were either back in the truck or lost somewhere in the WICKED complex. Thomas took a step back from the shelter, turning to see if there was anything in the rest of the camp they could use, his eyes locking onto the campfire in the center. 

Back when they’d used to truck to get in and out of the city they’d been able to collect bigger and heavier things than when they went on foot. Alby had had the idea to try and bring back some bricks so that they could build a small wall around the fire, try to keep the wind off it during the winter months. 

It hadn’t been particularly hard to find any. With all the looting and destruction that had gone on in the city quite a few buildings had caved in on themselves, leaving piles of rubble in their wake. It’d taken them hours of searching through the rubble to find anything that was useable, but eventually they’d filled up the back of the truck enough that they decided to call it a day.

It probably wasn’t the best grave they’d be able to make for the two of them, but at least it was something. 

Thomas didn’t know how long it took, carrying the bricks back and forth between the fire and the shelter, but by the time they were done Sonya, Aris and Rachel were back from their search. Thomas wondered how long they’d been standing by the gates, just watching them. He was just glad they’d left them alone, this was something they needed to do themselves and it seemed like they understood. 

He felt like he should say something, a final goodbye to the two of them but he just couldn’t bring himself to. Alby had been one of his best friends and now, staring down at his grave, he was finally admitting to himself that he was really gone. 

“We found it.” Sonya told them after a while of silence, making no move to enter the camp. Thomas took a deep breath, tearing his eyes away from the graves. He hadn’t noticed before, but it looked like Minho had been crying. It was something he didn’t think he’d seen for a long time, something he wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen actually.

He stood back from the graves, hand squeezing Minho’s shoulder to try and comfort him in some way before he left to join the others at the gate. He followed them towards the communication point without a second look back. This wasn’t their home anymore, it was just a ruin. 

Thomas walked with his hands in his pockets, chin tucked down against the cold as they walked through the forest he’d become so used to. They’d walked the same path around the perimeter so many times in the months they’d been there that they’d worn away at the grass. You could see the dirt tracks even through the frost that covered the ground. 

Which was why, when they turned off the path to walk deeper into the forest, Thomas was surprised to see a new markings through the trees. These ones were much fainter, more difficult to spot it you weren’t looking for it, but he was. It must have been the way Gally, Brenda and Jorge had gone to reach the communication point. 

He wondered how none of them had ever noticed it. It wasn’t like sneaking out of camp was easy, there was only one way in and one way out and there was constantly someone up in the watch tower, it was almost impossible not to be seen. Thomas guessed that must have been why WICKED had originally sent two people to the camp, one to leave and report to them, and one to stay behind and make sure no one saw.

It was something he was still finding difficult to comprehend, that Jorge and Brenda had been working against them that whole time. They’d become like family to him, and now that they were both dead he’d never know for sure who’s side they were actually on. He liked to believe that over the months they’d spent together, no matter where their allegiances had started, they’d been on their side at the end.

If Thomas hadn’t been paying to much attention to the ground and his own thoughts, he would have noticed that the others had stopped. As it was, he didn’t have time to stop himself before he was bumping into Aris, who jumped away from him in shock at the contact. Thomas shrugged in apology, moving past him to go and join Sonya at the front of the group. 

She was stood in front of a large, seemingly normal looking tree. There wasn’t a single thing about it that Thomas could see which made it stand out from the rest of them. 

“Am I missing something?” Sonya just rolled her eyes, crouching down next to the tree to push away the pile of dead leaves on the floor besides it. As she pushed them away it revealed an arch in the base of the tree, large enough to fit a metal box inside. 

Thomas knelt down besides her as she pulled the box out from under the tree, watching as she opened the clasp to pull back the lid. Inside the box is a high frequency radio system, as well as four smaller handheld radios. 

“I don’t know why, but i was expecting something more high tech than that.” Thomas couldn’t help but agree with Minho, grabbing one of the radios from the box to look it over. Sonya pulled the radio system from the box, closing the lid as she placed it on top. 

“We’re out in the middle of the forest, it’s not like a huge computer system would be able to go unnoticed.” Sonya pointed out. “Or even work, for that matter.” 

Minho just shrugged, taking the radio that Thomas passed him. “I’m just saying, it would have been cool.”

Sonya huffed out a laugh as she turned on the radio, the five of the waiting anxiously for it to work. It took a few seconds, and a few taps on the side from Sonya, before a green light appeared in the corner. They let out a collective sigh of relief. 

“You do know the frequency, right?” Aris asked when Sonya started fiddling with the dials on the front, a frown on her face.

“Vaguely.” Rachel didn’t look to happy about that, Thomas noticing the worried look on her face.

“Vaguely?” Sonya didn’t seem too concerned though, nodding as she found the right dial. Static started to buzz from the machine. 

“I know it’s somewhere between 60 and 100, it won’t take long to find the right station.” Thomas stood up from his crouch, moving to lean up against a nearby tree as they waited for something to happen. Sonya grabbed the the mouthpiece from where it was laying on the ground, brushing some frost off the side as she pressed the button, speaking into it.

“Group A to base?” They all waited as she released the button, listening to the static and hoping for a response. When they heard nothing back, she tried one more time before moving onto the next station. 

After about the tenth time of trying, Thomas was starting to get anxious. He never liked staying still in the open for too long, especially now that it wasn’t only the Cranks they needed to keep a look out for. He pushed off from the tree, removing the sword form the sheath on his back as took to pacing a few meters away from the others, looping round the area to make sure they weren’t being watched.

It helped him keep his mind of things too. They were risking a lot by doing this, if someone other than Gally answered the call then WICKED would know where to find them and there was no way they were ever going to be able to get into the building. 

It scared him to think of how long they’d be able to last without the immunity, they were already on their last legs as it was. Everyone was exhausted, they’d been through so much and he wasn’t sure everyone would make it if they had to find somewhere new to live, somewhere away from WICKED that was safe. 

They needed to stop them, that was their best bet. 

“This is Group A, reporting back to base. Anyone there?”

“Name?” Thomas only just heard the voice over the radio, but it stopped him in his pacing none the less. Sonya looked shocked that someone had finally replied when he made his way back over, staring at the radio for a few seconds before she realised that she needed to answer.

“Brenda Despain.” He wondered why she’d used a different name before realising they probably knew that Sonya was the one to help him escape from WICKED. If she used her own name they’d know something was going on, he just hoped they didn’t recognise her voice.

“Who is it you’re reporting too?” 

“Gally, sir.” There was a pause, and Thomas was worried they’d realised something was up, but then the man’s voice was back.

“One moment, please.” All of them were silent whilst they waiting for someone to respond, hoping that Gally was still there, that they hadn’t realised he’d helped them with their escape. 

After five minutes of waiting, a voice finally sounded over the speaker. 

“Brenda?” Thomas was surprised by how relieved he was to hear Gallys voice over the radio, coming to stand next to Sonya so that he could hear what was being said better. “What are you doing back at camp, I thought you were are the Glade?”

“Gally, it’s me.”

“Sonya? The hell are you doing there? It’s not safe.”

“It’s a long story.” Sonya told him, a small smile on her face at hearing his voice. Thomas imagined she must have been pretty relieved that he’d responded, they’d all been counting on her plan working. “We need your help, can you talk?”

“You’ve got five minutes, what do you need?” Sonya glanced over at Thomas, handing him the radio so that he could talk to Gally. He wasn’t sure why she felt he needed to do it, but he didn’t bother asking, pressing the button so that he could talk. 

“We need you to sneak us back into WICKED.”

“Back in?” Gally sounded confused and Thomas wasn’t exactly surprised, it must have sounded like a pretty odd request considering he’d only just gotten out of WICKED a few days ago. “Why the hell do you want to get back in?”

“We need to get the immunisation, it’s important.”

“Can’t I just bring it out?” Thomas considered that for a moment. It would be a hell of a lot safer, they could all get the immunisation and get the hell out of there. He glanced over at Aris and Rachel, who were both looking at him expectantly. Their people were still in WICKED’s headquarters and he’d promised he’d get them out, he couldn’t turn his back on that.

“We’re stopping Ava and her team too and we need to get some people out, unless you want to do that by yourself.” Normally he’d expect that Gally would argue with him, but now he just sounded resigned to the idea. 

“Thomas, you know this is a death wish, right?” He did know that, of course he knew that. They were breaking back into a building filled with hundreds of people that had created a virus that had killed most of the world's population. There as a high possibility that they’d be killed for doing so, but it was important, so he just tried not to think about that. 

“We can handle it, can you get us in or not?” 

“I can only get you in the same way you got out, it’s not the most conspicuous entrance.” The hangar doors, definitely not the subtle entry they were hoping for. But if that was the only way Gally could get them in then that was what they were going to have to work with. 

“But you can do it?”

“Yeah, I can do it. Can you get there tomorrow? Your best bet is 4pm, that’s when they change over the guards.” It was sooner that Thomas would have liked, it didn’t give them as much time to plan everything than they probably needed, but it was better than he was expecting. They could work with that. 

“Thank you, Gally.”

“Don’t mention it. I meant it when I said I wasn’t safe there though, you guys need to get out of there. There’s still a lot of Crank activity around the lake.” Thomas stood then, passing the radio back to Sonya as she said goodbye to Gally. 

He’d hoped that all the Cranks in their area would have been taken out after the attack, but he guessed the noises must have drawn some from further out over in their direction. With no-one left in the camp there wasn’t much for them to do other than stand around and wait for people to show up.

Turns out Minho’s worry about coming back here as warranted. 

Sonya turned off the radio and back it all back into the box, locking it before putting it into the backpack she’d brought with her. “If Gally’s right about the Cranks then we need to get going before they realise we’re here.” She told them, heading off back down the path that had lead them there, Thomas and the others following after her.

He couldn’t help be overly anxious the whole walk back, worried they’d bump into a Crank any minute. It didn’t take them long to find the main path again, working their way along the perimeter of the camp towards the front gates so that they could find the truck and get back to the gas station to the others. 

Thomas drew his sword when he heard a noise ahead of them, gesturing for Minho to follow him as they pushed ahead of the others. He glanced back to see that Aris and Rachel had fallen to the back, Sonya now surrounded by the four of them, the box safe in the middle. 

He went to turn round the corner of the wall but Minho must have seen something because he suddenly grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him back a few paces. He was about to ask what he’d seen when Minho put a hand against his mouth, causing Thomas to frown. 

Minho held out his free hand to the others to get them to stop where they were, gesturing for Thomas to look round the corner. Thomas nodded, Minho dropping his hand. He made sure to be more careful with his movements this time, keeping close to the wall as he leant round the side.

He could see the truck parked a couple of meters away from the other side of the camp walls and surrounding it, around thirty Cranks. He couldn’t help the gasp that escaped him as he quickly moved back against the wall.

“Shit.” 

“How the hell are we supposed to get past them?” Thomas had no idea, shaking his head. It wasn't as if they could just pick them all off, they were outnumbered and exposed in every direction. Plus it wasn't as if that’d gone well last time he’d tried that with Teresa, they were incredibly lucky that the hoard had been drawn away when they had. 

Aris came and joined them. He was frowning, moving past Minho to see what was going on, only to quickly back up once he realised what they’d stopped for. 

“Shit.”

“We’ve covered that.” Minho told him, sounding a little annoyed. 

“How are we supposed to-?”

“Covered that too.” Thomas tried his best not to laugh, it really wasn’t the situation for it. Aris just rolled his eyes at him, Rachel and Sonya coming to join the three of them.

“How many are there?” Rachel asked, looking anxious as she tightened the grip on her knife. He was suddenly very glad that they’d come with them, if it had just been him and Sonya like they’d originally decided on, there was no way they were going to get out of this.  

“20? Maybe 30.” Minho told them, glancing round the side quickly to try and make sure. “I’m not sure, it’s hard to tell when they’re that close together.”

“We could distract them.” Aris suggested. 

“How are we supposed to do that?”

“If some of us go round the back of the camp, come out the other side then we can draw them that way. Then someone can get the truck, pull up near us and we can run for it.” It didn’t seem like the most well thought out plan, but it seemed like it could work. They couldn’t bring the Cranks towards them, because then whoever tried to reach the truck would be seem and they’d only get blocked off. Going round seemed like their only option. 

Minho nodded his agreement, picking up his axe from where it was resting against his leg. “Sounds as good as anything I could come up with.”

“Who wants to stay here though?” Rachel asked, obviously not putting herself up for it. 

“I will.” Sonya suggested when no one else did, Thomas turning to frown at her. It was incredibly risky, if the plan didn’t work and the hoard headed her way then it was highly likely that she was going to die. 

“Are you sure?” Sonya just shrugged. 

“It’s important we get these back to camp and besides, I lost my gun back at the Glade.” Thomas pushed off the wall, pulling Sonya into a hug. 

“Valid point. Just be careful.” Sonya hugged him back, Thomas patting her gently on the back before letting go. She gave him a small smile, adjusting the bag on her back.

“Always am.” 

Minho handed her the keys as he passed, taking the lead as the four of the headed off down the side of the camp, making sure to keep close to the walls so that they were at least covered on one side.

They picked up the pace, moving to a jog to get round to the other side faster. Thomas rounded past Aris and Rachel as they turned the corner, falling into step besides Minho at the front of the group. As they passed by the lake, both Minho and Thomas slowed to a stop, staring out over the waters in horror.

It seemed as if there were hundreds of Cranks by the water's edge, slowly moving around each other. A lot of them were standing still, just staring ahead of them. It almost looked as if they were asleep, although Thomas wasn’t sure if they even could. Most likely they were just waiting for some people to stumble across them before they attacked, and Thomas didn’t fancy being the one that disturbed them. 

He tore his eyes away from the lake, forcing himself to carry on along the path, but the sight still stuck in the back of his mind. They needed to be really careful moving the Cranks from around the truck. If they went the wrong way and moved them closer to the lake, the noise was surely going to attract the attention of the other group and there was no way they’d ever be able to escape from that in one piece. 

When they reached the edge of the camp walls, he stopped again, waiting for the others to catch up. The Cranks were still milling around the truck, but from closer up there seemed to be even more than they'd originally thought. As Minho came to join him, he saw that he too looked worried. 

“We need to draw them away from the lake, rather than towards it.” Thomas was glad Minho agreed with him, nodding his reply. 

“But that’ll take them closer to the road won't it?” Rachel asked as she came and joined them, keeping her voice down. “What if they end up in our path there?”

“Then we’ll take them out.” Minho told her. “I’d rather risk that than waking the ones by the lake.” Rachel still didn't seem convinced but she didn't argue her point any further. 

“There's a clearing in the trees not too far from here.” Thomas told them, pointing away from the camp in the general direction he remembered it to be. “We can lead them there.” When no-one made a move to argue, Thomas leant out past the walls, looking round to see if Sonya was still there. He couldn't see her, but he realised that was probably a good thing, because if he could see her, then the Cranks definitely could. 

Taking a deep breath, he pushed away from the wall and in the direction of the truck. 

There was a loud knocking behind him as Minho started hitting the side of the wall, the Cranks closest to them turning to see what the noise was. As soon as they caught sight of Thomas, they moved. 

Back at the start the Cranks had moved fast, almost running at them, but the more they stayed alive - or as alive as they could be - the slower then started to get. These Cranks had been decomposing for months now, it wasn’t very often you ran into newly turned ones anymore. Even though they weren’t as fast as they used to be, they were still pretty terrifying. 

Thomas tightened his grip on the sword as he started to back away from them, edging closer to the clearing. He had to pick up the pace when the slightly younger ones began to push round the others, starting to gain on him. 

Minho was yelling now, shouting insults at the Cranks as he came and joined Thomas, Aris and Rachel not far behind, but keeping their distance from the hoard. Thomas risked a look away from the Cranks to see where Sonya was, finding her coming out from behind the walls of the camp. 

Relieved that she was still okay, he turned back to the Cranks, only to trip up on the roots of a tree. Thomas stumbled back a few steps, managing to catch himself but his stumble allowed he Cranks to gain on him, the noise he’d made as he tripped only serving to bring more of them over in his direction. 

He swung out with his sword as one of them reached for him, the blade getting jammed in the Cranks hip bone. Thomas tried to pull it free but it wouldn’t move, the Crank just getting more angry the harder he tried. 

Thomas started to panic then, more of the Cranks were gaining on him and he couldn’t just leave his weapon behind, he’d be completely defenseless. He pulled on the sword again as hard as he could and suddenly the Crank was falling towards him, its head rolling off between his legs as it hit the ground.

Minho was standing in front of him, already turning back to the rest of the Cranks as they piled on forward. 

“Didn’t Newt tell you to always go for their necks with that thing?” He yelled, but Thomas wasn’t really listening. He pushed against the Cranks stomach with his foot, using the leverage to pull the sword from where it was lodged in it’s bone. He took a few steps back, wiping at the blood on his face before stepping back into the fight. 

He took a swing at the Crank coming towards him, both hands on the sword as it sliced clean through it’s neck. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone but himself, but watching the Cranks body fall into a lifeless pile on the floor made him feel a lot better. Every swing of the sword helped him release a bit of the anger he was feeling. 

Anger at the Crank’s that killed Alby, and Jorge. The one that bit Newt. The ones that tore through their camp like it meant nothing. Anger at WICKED for attacking the Glade, for monitoring their lives, for creating the damn virus in the first place. 

He heard the truck start up ahead of them but he tried to pay it no mind, instead joining Minho in yelling at the Cranks to keep their attention on them. 

Aris and Rachel were much closer to them now, the four of them moving in union to draw the Cranks away. Aris had a baseball bat with him, swinging at the legs of the Cranks to knock them off their feet, Rachel moving in with a knife to the head whilst they were down. They made a pretty good team, working with each other to take down as many Cranks as they could. 

As the made it to the clearing, the four of them became caught in the center of the hoard, others having moved in on them from behind. Thomas had been too focused on what had been going on in front of him that he hadn’t even thought about checking behind him. 

Instinctively both Thomas and Minho moved so they were stood back to back, keeping each other covered. Aris and Rachel saw what they were doing and moved to do the same, the four of them keeping close together in the center. 

“Don’t let any of them get through the circle.” Thomas’ heart was pounding hard in his chest. He stabbed at a smaller Crank, the sword passing straight through it’s empty eye socket. He kicked up with his leg, pushing at its chest with it’s foot to knock it back into the crowd. It’s limp body crashed into the ones behind it, sending them stumping backwards.

This gave him the time to help Aris, who’d just accidentally knocked another Crank over in his direction. Thomas span, catching the Cranks arm with the swords edge. He cursed himself for missing, pushing the Crank back towards Aris when it fell towards him, giving Aris the chance to smash the baseball bat against the Cranks head. 

It fell towards Thomas, the two of them moving to grab it before it could land. Together the pushed it into the crowd, forcing it down towards the Cranks feet. A few of them stumbled, one falling right by Thomas’ feet.

It reached out, grabbing at Thomas’ ankle to pull itself along the ground, not bothering to pick itself up. Thomas tried to pull his foot away but he had no luck, the Crank had too strong a grip. As it lurched forward, teeth snapping, Thomas plunged the sword downwards, shattering its skull. 

He took a deep breath, attempting to calm down his panic as he pulled the sword back from the Crank. He was about to look back up just when he heard a crashing through the trees behind him. He span round just in time to see the truck driving backwards through the forest, smashing into the hoard in front of Minho and Rachel, crushing them beneath the tires. 

Sonya slammed on the brakes, the truck lurching to the stop as she leant out the window. “Don’t just stand there, get in!” 

Thomas didn’t have to be told twice, pulling his foot away from the dead Cranks hold. He dodged to the left as another tried to grab at him, running towards the truck. Minho was already in the back, helping to pull Rachel up over the side. Thomas was about to jump up with them when Rachel screamed.

“Aris!” Aris had tripped over one of the bodies, knocking his head hard against the ground. Thomas had already thrown his sword into the truck but he ran after him anyway, grabbing Aris’ bat from where it’d fallen to the ground on his way. He skidded to a stop besides him, slamming the bad into the side of one of the Cranks head and sending it falling away from them. 

The others were still moving forward, but the force that the last Crank had moved back at had pushed them back a little, allowing Thomas to crouch down next to Aris and help him up off the floor. Aris wrapped his arm around Thomas’ shoulder, leaning heavily against him to stay upright. 

Thomas quickly made his way back to the truck, practically dragging Aris along with him. He looked like he was about to pass out, but Thomas wasn’t about to leave him behind. Both Rachel and Minho were leaning over the side of the truck, so Thomas risked it and pushed Aris heavily towards them just as the Cranks gained on him. 

He didn’t stop to see if it had work, yelling as he span round again, the bat held tightly in both hands. He managed to hit the Crank in the side of the head with enough for that, along with the rot seeping through it’s skin, he was able to knock it clean off. 

He felt hands grabbing the back of his shirt and he immediately started to panic. He used his elbow to swing back at whatever had him, only to scrape his arm along the edge of the truck. He realised then that the hands belonged to Minho when they gripped his upper arms, hauling him into the back of the truck and away from the Cranks. 

Rachel knocked on the window with her fist, signalling to Sonya to start the car. “We’ve got him, go!” She yelled as the engine starting up, Sonya slamming her foot on the gas peddle. Thomas had to grip onto the edge of the truck to stop himself from falling over as it jolted to a start, speeding away from the remaining Cranks and back to the gas station. 

He let out a sigh of relief, dropping his hold on the bat and laying down against the cold metal of the truck. As he closed his eyes, he couldn’t help but laugh. He knew it wasn’t appropriate, they’d almost lost Aris, but they’d gotten out. They’d escaped what should have been a death sentence. 

It made him think back to what Gally had said before, that going back to WICKED was a death trap. They’d tried their luck on so many different occasions, it had just saved their lives now. It gave him hope that everything was going to work out.

At least for now, anyway. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Newt's woken up and the group finally has a way to get into WICKED and get the immunisation they desperately need! This chapters a little dialogue heavy, sorry about that, but I needed to get it out before I can move onto the more fun stuff!  
> Also, it just hit 100,000 words, which is insane considering this was only meant to be a short 10k fic! Thank you to everyone that's been reading since the start, and to any new people that have just found it. It's so great that people still seem to be interested, so thank you to everyone that's kudosed and especially to the people that have commented, you guys are awesome!
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> (On another note, I've already written some of the next chapter, so i'm on the way with that one too. As well as that, if there are any glaring errors in this please let me know - I really just wanted to get this chapter out so I haven't proof read it as much as I usually do)


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